November 5, 2024

The Catholic Transcript

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Andreas Pereira becomes first player born outside Brazil to score for Selecao | Brazilian team

Andreas Pereira becomes first player born outside Brazil to score for Selecao | Brazilian team

Watch Andreas Pereira’s goal against Mexico

On the day the CBF celebrated 110 years of its foundation, for the first time in history a player born outside Brazil scored a goal for the Seleção. Born in Tuffel, Belgium, Andreas Pereira was responsible for the feat as he beat Mexico 3-2 in a friendly last Saturday.

The son of Brazilians, Andreas grew up in Europe, where his father, also a footballer, played for most of his career. As a teenager, he played for Belgium’s youth teams, making 27 appearances and scoring 13 goals between the under-15 and under-17 divisions.

However, the midfielder guarantees that the dream is to play hopscotch. A possibility that seemed far-fetched became real when he was 17 when he received a visit from Alexandre Gallo, Brazil’s youth wing coordinator. He accepted the invitation to transfer Belgium to Brazil without hesitation.

Andreas Pereira kisses the shirt after scoring his first goal for Brazil – Photo: Rafael Ribeiro / CPF

Chance in the main team will come only in 2018, Tide who invited him for friendship. Andreas played 23 minutes of the match against El Salvador and had to wait almost six years before he got his chance again in March 2024 with Dorival Junior.

Andreas Pereira Kids Brazil Shirt – Photo: Personal Archive

His first goal for the senior team came in the fourth match, his first as a starter. Andreas did well, not just finding the net.

– It’s an incredible, indescribable feeling, I’m so happy, it still hasn’t sunk in that I scored the first goal. I had a lot going on in my head at the time and everything I went through had to be here. It was my childhood dream to score for the national team and today I am living that moment. I am very happy – he said.

For more than a century, the five-time world champions have had some players born in other countries, but none of them have been able to find the net. They are:

  • Sydney Bullen (English) – three games;
  • Casemiro do Amaral (Portuguese) – six games;
  • Francisco Police (Italian) – a game;

There is also disagreement about where Adolfo Millman, known as Rousseau, who played the game of hopscotch, was born. Records point to Pelotas on the Rio Grande do Sul as his hometown, but over the years there has been a legend that he was born in the territory of the Russian Empire in what is now Afghanistan. Years later, the family discovered that the former striker was born in Argentina, as reported by Esporte Espadacular.

Born in Belgium, Andreas is not the first athlete born outside of Brazil.