U17 World Cup - 'Brazil are scouting for talent every single day', says coach Carlos Amadeu

The Brazil U-17 national team will be one of the 24 nations around the globe that will be taking up the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 challenge, scheduled to kick off on October 6 in India.

With less than 10 days to go before the start of the mega-event, Seleccao juniors' coach Carlos Amadeu spoke about how his nation has been able to regularly produce world-class talents.

"Brazil, like India, is a huge country. We have 20-25 scouts going everywhere and scouting for talent every single day. Plus there are 10-15 very good clubs who have their own youth development programs. We all work together to spot talent. But sometimes it still happens that a player emerges from nowhere and does well at the senior level. We don't like those surprises. We would like to have all the best talent available in the country and put them through the youth set-up."

Brazil are joined at the U-17 World Cup stage by South American contingent Colombia, Chile and Paraguay. Amadeu believes any team can clinch the trophy at this age category of the World Cup.

"Paraguay is a very good team, the only team that we could not beat during the South American Cup. They don't have any individuals who are outstanding, but as a team, they work very well. Colombia is technically a very good team, and then there's also Chile, who have been doing well."

"I call this the World Cup of equality. Almost any team can do well here. Statistics show that African teams have done very well in this age group and then there are also the European teams, Spain and England, in particular, are very good. We won't be taking any teams lightly." stated Amadeu.

The Brazil-born coach also touched upon the current scenario regarding the export of talented teenagers from his country. Manchester City striker is the latest high-profile footballer who moved out of Brazil before turning 20.

"Brazil has always had superstars, from Pele and Garrincha. But these players used to go abroad in their 20s, nowadays our players are leaving at about 15-16 years of age. There are two situations that arise out of it. Firstly, their clubs don't release them for the national team apart from the FIFA days, so we don't get to spend a lot of time with them. But at the same time, they are learning things from another school of football. The clubs have very good coaches and trainers who look after them and help in their development, so we would like to focus more on the positives." said the Brazil U-17 head coach.