Bruno Cortes (middle): from Nova Iguaçu to the seleção in six months (Getty Images)

Mano Menezes has named his squad for the friendly match with Argentina to be played on 14 September in Cordoba. The squad consists exclusively of home based players including Ronaldinho, Neymar, Fred and Leandro Damião.

Ten new players have been called up and there were a few surprizes including the likes of Paulinho, Rí´mulo, Cí­cero and Renato Abreu. Nobody was more surprized to be called up than Botafogo left back Bruno Cortes who was playing for non-league Nova Iguaçu just six months ago. Three players from Brazil’s under 20 World Cup winning team were called up (Casemiro, Oscar and Danilo).

Some of the locally based regular names including Lucas, Dedé, Ralf and Jefferson were also named in the squad. Two players that many people feel deserve a chance – strikers Kléber of Palmeiras and Borges of Santos – were left out. Elano was also surprisingly left out by Mano Menezes. Ganso misses out through injury. See the full list below:

Goalkeepers
Fábio – Cruzeiro
Rafael – Santos
Jefferson – Botafogo

Defenders
Danilo – Santos
Mario Fernandes – Grêmio
Bruno Cortês – Botafogo
Kleber – Internacional
Dedé – Vasco
Réver – Atlético-MG
Rhodolfo – São Paulo
Henrique – Palmeiras

Midfielders
Casemiro – São Paulo
Paulinho – Corinthians
Ralf – Corinthians
Rí´mulo – Vasco

Cí­cero – São Paulo
Lucas – São Paulo
Oscar – Internacional
Renato Abreu – Flamengo
Thiago Neves – Flamengo

Forwards
Fred – Fluminense
Leandro Damião – Internacional
Neymar – Santos
Ronaldinho Gaúcho -Flamengo

Ronaldinho has been called up by Brazil again (Mowa Press)

Ronaldinho meanwhile has been singled for praise by Mano Menezes after his excellent comeback performance against Ghana earlier this week. The Brazil coach said: ”Ronaldinho is in better physical condition. Because of this, he is able to make his superior ability count. In the end he left a good impression which is what we expect from him. We need to work on a few things but that will come with time.”

Following the praise, Ronaldinho has indicated that he is hoping to be included in Brazil’s 2012 Olympics team as one of their three over-aged players. He was part of the team that won a bronze medal in the Beijing summer Olympics in 2008.

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