Brazilian Futebol

News and opinion about Brazilian football (soccer).

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Two wins in two matches

Brazil beat Chile 4-0 and Ghana 1-0 in two friendlies played this week in Sweden. After a good display on Saturday against their fellow South Americans, the Brazilians played quite poorly against the Africans on Tuesday, settling for a tight victory against an opponent that pressed forward at times and gave too many spaces in defence - precisely like what had happened last year during the game between the two sides in the World Cup.

In the end, at least coach Dunga can celebrate two more victories for his resume, and fans can at least hope that the coach keeps Kaka, Ronaldinho and Robinho together in the team for future games. They obviously showed a better display against Chile, but were still decent during the game on Tuesday.

With the Copa America and 2010 World Cup Qualifying games later this year, Dunga must now concentrate on trying to consolidate his base squad for the two competitions. He may still try out a few players that excel at the club level, but most spots in the team must be defined for these two tournaments.

Labels: , , , ,

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Dunga calls up players for friendlies

Brazilian National coach Dunga named his team for the upcoming friendlies against Chile and Ghana, to be played in Sweden at the end of March. Five new players from the squad that lost 2-0 to Portugal last month were included in the list. Three of these players are from Brazilian teams: Ilsinho and Josue (Sao Paulo) and Kleber (Santos). Mineiro (who joined Hertha Berlin from Sao Paulo at the end of the January transfer window) and Vagner Love (from CSKA) are the other new faces.

Here's the full list of players called up by Dunga:

Goalkeepers - Helton (Porto) and Julio Cesar (Inter Milan)

Defenders - Daniel Alves (Sevilla), Gilberto (Hertha Berlim), Ilsinho (Sao Paulo), Kleber (Santos), Alex (PSV Eindhoven), Juan (Bayer Leverkusen), Lucio (Bayern Munich) and Luisao (Benfica)

Midfielders - Diego (Werder Bremen), Dudu Cearense (CSKA Moscow), Elano (Shakhtar Donetsk), Gilberto Silva (Arsenal), Kaka (AC Milan), Josue (Sao Paulo), Mineiro (Hertha Berlim) and Ronaldinho (Barcelona)

Forwards - Fred (Lyon), Rafael Sobis (Betis), Robinho (Real Madrid) and Vagner Love (CSKA Moscow)

Labels: , ,