Flamengo's Under-16 team, Garotos do Ninho, led by coach Leonardo Ramos, debuted with a thrashing in the 2021 edition of the Copa Gramado, a competition held in the south of the country. Playing on Monday morning (27) at the Vila Olímpica Sports Complex, in Gramado, Mengão played safely and consistently, dominating the match from start to finish and beating Gramadense, a local team, by a score of 4x0 (Riquelmy, Euder, Jonathan and Lorran). 

The Gramado Cup features six teams, divided into two groups of three teams each. Group A includes Internacional, Grêmio, and Gramadense. Group B includes Flamengo, Juventude, and Palmeiras. The teams play three matches, facing opponents from the other group. The top four teams advance to the semifinals.

The Ninho Boys dominated the game from the opening whistle, creating good scoring opportunities and opening the scoring in the 20th minute of the first half. Eduardo Gabriel crossed into the box, Riquelmy controlled it with skill and fired a cross that left goalkeeper Renan with no chance. In the 33rd minute, Jonathan made a great individual play and was awarded a penalty. Euder fired a skillful shot into the top corner to extend Flamengo's lead. Still in the first half, in the 39th minute, Jonathan capitalized on a poor clearance by the opposing team and scored the Rubro-Negro's third goal of the match.

Flamengo returned for the second half maintaining the strong lead they had built before halftime. Still, they scored their fourth goal just two minutes in, with a beautiful shot from Lorran, a U-15 forward who made his U-16 debut, maintaining his excellent goal average this season. After that, coach Leo Ramos brought on all the players from the bench and made significant changes to the lineup, giving every player a chance and trying to rest the team for the rest of the competition.

Leader of Group B, Mais Querido returns to the field this Tuesday afternoon (28), at 13:30 pm, to face Internacional. The Copa Gramadense games are broadcast live on the competition's official Facebook page.

Flamengo: Lucas Furtado, Hernandes (Julio Pedro), David Gondim, Erick (Victor Thiago), Eduardo Gabriel; Vitor Fonseca (Daniel), Bill (Mateus Pipino), Euder; Adriel, Jonathan (Paulo Roberto) and Riquelmy (Lorran). Coach: Leonardo Ramos.