Cuban-born Leal will become the first naturalized volleyball player to play for the Brazilian team, but he has mixed feelings about his recent selection to the Brazilian national volleyball team.
The attacker, invited by technical Renan Dal Zotto, makes his debut on May 27 in Poland, where Brazil will compete in the first phase of the League of Nations.
"I think I'll get there and I'll be treated like a player who is defending the country, but what I feel now is this, I'm afraid of not being welcomed," he said by telephone from Italy, where he plays professional volleyball.
Born in Havana, Leal played on Cuba's Vice-World Championship team in 2010, but he became fed-up with the management of the sport in Cuba, and he left the team. Two years later, he arrived in Brazil, where he played for Sada Cruzeiro until last year when he left for Lube Civitanova in Italy.
He completed his naturalization in 2015, but he had to wait, per the rules of the International Volleyball Federation, until this year to represent Brazil in international tournaments.
This year, ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the team will compete in five competitions so the attacker can adjust in the League of Nations, Pan American Games, South American, Pre-Olympic and World Cup matches.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon