João Pedro: We had Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and Romário in the past, but today Brazil has similar players

Chelsea forward João Pedro is confident that the Brazilian national football team's attack will soon click into gear, reassuring fans after recent underwhelming performances. The "Seleção" suffered a 2-1 defeat to France in a friendly last week, prompting supporters to chant the name of the absent Neymar and lament the lack of goals. Despite coach Carlo Ancelotti fielding four forwards – Raphinha (Barcelona), Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal), Vinicius Jr. (Real Madrid), and Matheus Cunha (Manchester United) – and introducing João Pedro, Igor Thiago, and Luiz Henrique in the second half, his team managed only one goal, scored by center-back Gleison Bremer.

"We are getting to know each other better and better. I play in England, Vini plays in Spain, Raphinha is at another club. We need to train together, just like we do at our clubs where we spend the whole year together. With the national team, you do things differently compared to your club, so you have to adapt quickly. With more training time, things start to smooth out. It will work out for us soon," João Pedro stated, as quoted by ESPN.

The 24-year-old forward believes the pressure stems from the fact that the Brazilian team hasn't won the World Cup in 24 years, which prevents some of the star attackers from showcasing their true potential.

"In the past, we had Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Romário, but if you look at football today, Brazil has similar players. We have Vini at Real Madrid, Raphinha at Barcelona, myself and Estevão at Chelsea, and Andrey (Santos) too. We all play for top clubs. The concern is that we haven't won the World Cup in a long time. We are the greatest national team in the world, and when so much time passes without winning, the pressure mounts," the Brazilian added.

Raphinha will be sidelined for at least five weeks due to injury, and João Pedro, who has 14 goals and 8 assists in 31 appearances for Chelsea this season, is expected to start in his place for Brazil in the friendly against Croatia in Orlando, Florida, on Tuesday night.

The five-time world champions begin their 2026 World Cup campaign against Morocco on June 13, with Scotland and Haiti completing Group C.