Brazil finally solves Mexico

After a couple of losses to Mexico, Brazil finally restablished the normal state of affairs with a 3-1 win in a friendly match between the two teams in Boston on Wednesday. The last loss to the Mexicans had happened in June, when Brazil opened its campaign at the Copa America with a 2-0 defeat. The team would come back to win the title. Mexico had also won the previous matchup between the two countries, in 2005, also by a 2-0 score. In recent years, Brazil also lost to Mexico in the Gold Cup (1996 and 2003) and Confederations Cup (1999).

Mexico looked like it would win another game when it opened the score in the dying moments of the first half, with Guardado. But Brazil was lucky to tie the game one minute later with Kleber, avoiding going to the dressing room trailing at halftime. Brazil slowly took control of the game in the second half, and went ahead at the 80th minute, when Kaka made it 2-1. Afonso scored the third at the 87th minute, when Brazil was down to ten men - Elano had been sent off.

The 3-1 win made it a perfect North American tour for coach Dunga. On Sunday Brazil had beaten the United States by a 4-2 score, in Chicago. The coach now feels his team is ready to open the 2010 World Cup qualifying games next month. The Brazilians will face Colombia in their debut, away from home, on October 14.

Dunga calls players for friendly against Algeria

Brazilian National coach Dunga announced the name of the 22 players for the friendly against Algeria, on August 22, in Montpellier, France. Kaka and Ronaldinho, who were not in last month's Copa America team, were included in the list. The coach had not been happy by both players' request to be left out of the team that played in the competition, ultimately won by Brazil. Here are the names of the players called up by Dunga:

GOALKEEPERS - Doni (Roma), Julio Cesar (Inter Milan)

DEFENDERS - Maicon (Inter Milan), Daniel Alves (Sevilla), Gilberto (Hertha Berlim), Kleber (Santos), Juan (Roma), Alex Silva (Sao Paulo), Lucio (Bayern Munich), Naldo (Werder Bremem)

MIDFIELDERS - Josue (Sao Paulo), Mineiro (Hertha Berlim), Fernando (Bordeaux), Lucas (Liverpool), Elano (Manchester City), Julio Baptista (Real Madrid), Diego (Werder Bremem), Kaka (Milan)

FORWARDS - Robinho (Real Madrid), Ronaldinho (Barcelona), Rafael Sobis (Betis), Vagner Love (CSKA Moscow)

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.

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)