Mazinho earned 35 caps with the Brazil national team, the first coming in May 1989 in a friendly against Peru and the last during the 1994 FIFA World Cup. At the 1994 World Cup, a tournament Brazil went on to win, he was the third member of the "three men and baby" celebration with Bebeto and Romário in the quarter-final win against the Netherlands. Mazinho was also a Copa América winner in 1989, at which point he was playing as a full-back.