Yeah. I called up Rodriguinho. Really. (Mowa Press)
Brazil have named a 24-man squad for the friendlies against Argentina and Australia in Melbourne next month. The squad is a strong one, although a few key players were given a rest.
With no Confederations Cup to worry about this summer, Brazil coach Tite has the luxury of giving some of his players a break this summer. The seleção will, however, travel half way around the world (to Australia) to play friendly matches against Argentina and Australia in Melbourne on the 9th and 13th of June.
Brazil, of course, have already qualified for next year’s World Cup and will have been very much in Tite’s mind when naming this group. In his press conference he noted how both Neymar and Daniel Alves had not had a full summers rest since 2013. He decided to give them, Miranda and Marquinhos well-earned rests following long seasons for their clubs. Roberto Firmino was not called up since he has been struggling with an injury.
Six players who play their football in Brazil were called up, including Fagner and Rodriguinho of Corinthians. Three players who play their football in China were named in the squad, showing that, perhaps, the Chinese league is not such a joke after all. One of those players is Paulinho, who scored a hat trick for the seleção against Uruguay recently and is reportedly wanted by Bayern Munich. The return of David Luiz was also noteworthy since he hasn’t played for the seleção in over a year.
Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola has ruled himself out of the running to be the seleção coach in the future, an idea touted by the this blog and by Dani Alves in the past. Guardiola said that Brazil should be trained by a Brazilian. And that Argentina should be trained by an Argentinian. I wonder what he makes of Roy Hodgson and Gareth Southgate then – would he make an exception for England?
The full squad is listed below. Don’t you just love how Brazilians put full backs into their own group, where as in most other players they are just listed as defenders?
Goalkeepers
Diego Alves (Valencia-SPA)
Ederson (Benfica-POR)
Weverton (Atlético-PR)
Full backs
Alex Sandro (Juventus-ITA)
Fagner (Corinthians)
Filipe Luis (Athletico Madrid-SPA)
Rafinha (Bayern Munich-GER)
Defenders
David Luiz (Chelsea-ENG)
Gil (Shandon Luneng-CHI)
Jemerson (Monaco-FRA)
Rodrigo Caio (São Paulo)
Thiago Silva (Paris Saint-Germain-FRA)
Midfielders
Fernandinho (Manchester City-ENG)
Giuliano (Zenit-RUS)
Lucas Lima (Santos)
Paulinho (Guangzhou Evergrande-CHI)
Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool-ENG)
Renato Augusto (Beijing Guoan-CHI)
Rodriguinho (Corinthians)
Willian (Chelsea-ENG)
Atacantes
Diego Souza (Sport)
Douglas Costa (Bayern de Munique-GER)
Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City-ING)
Taison (Shaktar Donetsk-UCR)
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