The 23-year-old midfielder has overcome a difficult period in Germany to regain his form at Hannover and is now eyeing a long-term Selecao future <\/p>\n
ANALYSIS: Raisa Simplicio & Rupert Fryer<\/span><\/p>\n This feels like a big week for Walace. Back in the Brazil squad for the first time since 2016, the 23-year-old re-joins the Selecao ahead of Brasil Global Tour date to rival all others, with the Superclasico de las Americas against old rivals Argentina.<\/p>\n But Walace is certainly no stranger to clasico baptisms of fire. In 2013, he left Florianopolis on Brazil\u2019s west coast to travel some 500km south to Porto Alegre giants Gremio. His debut arrived just a year later \u2013 in the historic Gre-Nal clash against fierce rivals Internacional.<\/p>\n Walace made an immediate impression and was quickly marked out as a future star of Brazilian football. Big, strong, fit and with the technical quality and tactical intelligence to compliment his physical gifts, the youngster was labelled the modern \u201cvolante\u201d, a holding midfielder who could do a little more than just stop the opposition.<\/p>\n Article continues below<\/span> <\/p>\n Juve on alert: Exiled Icardi may have already played his final game for Inter Sarri vindicated for dropping Kepa as Chelsea & Pedro impress in Spurs win Magnificent Mane takes centre stage as league leaders Liverpool put on a five-star show Lukaku sends reminder that his Man Utd career is far from over <\/p>\n He thrived under coach Roger Machado, becoming one of the Brasileirao\u2019s leading players in his position and was invited to join the Selecao in 2016 and joined the squad for the Copa America Centenario in USA, replacing the injured Luiz Gustavo.<\/p>\n He would make just one cameo as Brazil\u00a0disappointed in North America, but just a few weeks later he\u2019d get a second chance. This time, Shakthar Donetsk refused to release Fred for the Olympic Games. Once again, Walace was drafted in.<\/p>\n He began Rio 2016 as a reserve, but a tactical reshuffle from coach Rogerio Micale saw him drafted in to provide protection to the back-four and he would be key to the Selecao\u2019s first ever Olympic gold medal.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The world at his feet, Europe inevitably came calling. Walace chose Hamburg for the next step on his career path \u2013 but things wouldn\u2019t go to plan in the Bundesliga. A disagreement with his coach over his position led to club sanctions during a difficult period in which he lived away from his wife and then his new-born daughter.<\/p>\n Keen to move on, start again, and be closer to his family, Walace came close to joining the team he supported as a child, Flamengo, but Hamburg refused to sanction a loan move to Rio. He would make a total of just 23 league starts over two seasons in Germany and Hamburg were relegated last season, with Walace spending the second-half of the campaign with the youth team after the fallout with his coach.<\/p>\n \u201cThings don\u2019t always go the way we want them to,\u201d he said this week. \u201cBut I grew up as a player and a person [in Germany]. \u201c<\/p>\n<\/p>\n This past summer, he picked up and started again by agreeing a switch to Hannover in June. “I’m pleased to be starting a new phase in my career,” Walace said. “I know Hannover is a football-mad city, and there are great opportunities in the team, which has clear goals for the future. I want to keep improving and show my best football. I’m dying to get going.”<\/p>\n Walace’s swift return to form has coincided with a new era for Brazil and coach Tite, who are using the Brasil Global Tour this year to trial new players. He joined the squad in London earlier this week delighted to be back and, once again, raring to go.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n “I have to show everything that convinced them to hand me a return to the national team,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the new players have that mentality, too – everybody wants to return to the national team and make sure there are here again and again.\u201d<\/p>\n The 23-year-old is now eyeing a long-term future with the Selecao and says he is desperate to make the most of what he labelled, \u201cthe opportunity of a lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n He has all the tools. He is now able to operate as a shuttling midfielder having added an attacking intent to his game and hopes his ability to fulfil a number of functions in the midfield will convince Tite to keep him around.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 23-year-old midfielder has overcome a difficult period in Germany to regain his form at Hannover and is now eyeing a long-term Selecao future ANALYSIS: Raisa Simplicio & Rupert Fryer This feels like a big week for Walace. Back in the Brazil squad for the first time since 2016, the 23-year-old re-joins the Selecao ahead…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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