Renewed team, mostly foreign based

New Brazilian coach Dunga called up the squad for the August 16 friendly against Norway today. Lots of new names, but still a respectable 8 players from the team that lost in the World Cup. Most of the players called are still based abroad, and just 5 play in Brazil. Of course this could also be explained by the fact he left out players from Sao Paulo and Internacional, who could still play in the Libertadores Cup final scheduled for the same day as the friendly match.

I was surprised by some names, but more so about the number of players from the squad coached by Parreira. It's a good thing to keep some continuity, rather than start from scratch.

The players called for the Norway match are these:

GOALKEEPERS: Fabio (Cruzeiro) and Gomes (PSV)

DEFENDERS: Cicinho (Real Madrid), Gilberto (Hertha Berlin), Maicon (Internazionale), Marcelo (Fluminense), Alex (PSV), Juan (Bayer Leverkusen), Lucio (Bayern Munich) and Luisao (Benfica)

MIDFIELDERS: Dudu Cearense (CSKA Moscow), Edmilson (Barcelona), Júlio Baptista (Real Madrid), Gilberto Silva (Arsenal), Elano (Shakhtar Donetsk), Jonatas (Flamengo), Morais (Vasco), Wagner (Cruzeiro)

FORWARDS: Daniel Carvalho (CSKA Moscow), Fred (Lyon), Robinho (Real Madrid), and Vagner Love (CSKA Moscow)