Brazil, Braaaazzziiilll!
Brazil head coach Tite has revealed that Fernandinho has been ignored from the national team due to personal reasons rather than him being axed from the setup. The Manchester City star suffered a major disappointment during the summer after he scored an own goal during the World Cup quarter-final against Belgium which eventually contributed to Brazil’s exit after a 2-1 defeat.
Brazil head coach Tite has been impressed with the qualities of Richarlison since his induction into the national team. The Everton ace was first called up for the Selecao in August and he has continued to build his recognition with his performances which have certainly impressed the manager in charge.
Brazilian winger Malcom has expressed his delight after scoring his maiden goal for Barcelona during the recent Champions League encounter against Inter Milan. The 21-year-old came off the bench to score the opening goal for the Blaugrana in the 83rd minute but his effort was cancelled out by Mauro Icardi prior to stoppage time.
Tottenham winger Lucas Moura has been handed the opportunity to link up with Brazilian national team once again after being called up for the friendlies against Saudi Arabia and Argentina. Lucas Moura has been in the wilderness with regards to the national team front for the last couple of years. After emerging as a potential star when he was with São Paulo in the early part of the decade, he made the move to Paris St Germain in 2013 for a fee of around € 45 million. This made him as one of the most expensive players in the world back then. However, lack of regular first-team opportunities with the French outfit resulted in the player making just three substitute appearances for the national team in the last five years.
Chelsea defender David Luiz has been impressed with the philosophy of new Blues boss Maurizio Sarri. The Italian head coach has transformed the Blues into a title-challenging side during the opening weeks of the new Premier League season and Luiz has been impressed with the way he has involved himself with the club’s players.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has stressed that he would not rush Fabinho into action following his recent recovery from a muscle problem. The Brazil international was the Reds’ first summer signing back in May and he thereafter featured for the Reds extensively during pre-season where he picked up a minor injury in the final friendly versus Napoli.
Brazil have been largely heralded as one team that could lift the World Cup in Russia. Since Pele helped them to their first ever title in 1958, the Samba boys have grown from strength to strength. They won the titles in 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002. They were touted to lift the title for a record sixth time and they cruised to the semis only for the Germans to cause them a national embarrassment by defeating them 7-1.
Former Brazil international Robinho could be on his way to India to feature in the Indian Super League (ISL) in the January window. He parted ways with his former club Atletico Mineiro on January 1 as he could not reach an agreement with them.
South American soccer powerhouse Brazil of recent has been rising steadily to their former place of glory in world football. They have reached another landmark by eclipsing Spain as the world’s most expensive national team.
Philippe Coutinho’s big money switch from Liverpool to Barcelona is a big boost to ensure Brazil move past Spain. The Catalan outfit had to fork out €160 million for Coutinho. Ligue 1 giants Paris St Germain had to pay €222 million to get Neymar last summer. This makes the first team for Brazil cost a whopping €530 million, beating Spain’s similarly impressive €520 million, and leaving the star studded Belgium national team in third place with €510 million.
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It is almost a year that Tite took charge of the Brazil team and what an impact he has made on the team. When he took over, Brazil was a team suffering from a humiliating defeat at the World Cup and Copa America, and many pundits had written them off for the upcoming World Cup in Russia.
However, Tite will change their fortunes around and help the players believe in themselves. The performance speaks for itself with Brazil winning 9 games out of 10 counting for the qualifiers. Indeed Brazil are already qualified for the next World Cup and can now focus on building a team that will allow them to perform in Russia.
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