Brazil Name Copa America Squad, Kaka And Oscar Out

Santos starlet Gabriel ‘Gabigol’ Barbosa and Liverpool’s Coutinho were among those named in Brazil coach Dunga’s final 23-man squad for June’s Copa America Centenario.

Orlando City’s Kaka, Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino, PSG’s Lucas Moura and Cheslea’s Oscar were were among 17 players to be cut from the preliminary 40-man squad announced last week.

The others were Marcelo Grohe, Fagner, Alex Sandro, Jemerson, Gabriel Paulista, Wallace, Fernandinho, Ganso, Felipe Anderson, Luan, Jonas, Alex Teixeira and Gabriel Jesus.

Captain Neymar will be absent after an agreement was reached with Barcelona that will see the forward play the Rio Olympic games instead.

Inter defender Miranda and Chelsea midfielder Willian, Dunga’s first choices for his remaining two overage slots at the games, were named in the final 23 which appears to have ruled them out of the Olympics.

Real Madrid’s Casemiro returns to the squad following an impressive season with Spanish giants, as does Barcelona’s Rafinha who had been missing since suffering a serious knee injury in September.

Elias of Corinthians, Dunga’s most-capped midfielder after Willian, also returns after overcoming injury problems.

Any late replacements to the squad must be selected from the remaining 17 from Dunga’s preliminary squad.

Brazil have been drawn in Group B of the centenary version of the competition, set to be played in USA, alongside Ecuador, Haiti and Peru.

The Copa America Centenario has been organized to celebrate 100-years of the South American football championships. It will be played outside of the continent for the first time and feature six teams from North American Confederation CONCACAF

Brazil’s Copa America Centenario squad

Goalkeepers: Alisson (Internacional), Diego Alves (Valencia), Ederson (Benfica)

Defenders: Miranda (Inter), Gil (Shandong Luneng), Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain), Rodrigo Caio (Sao Paulo), Dani Alves (Barcelona), Filipe Luis (Atletico Madrid), Fabinho (Monaco), Douglas Santos (Atletico Mineiro)

Midfielders: Luiz Gustavo (Wolfsburg), Elias (Corinthians), Renato Augusto (Beijing Guoan), Coutinho (Liverpool), Lucas Lima (Santos), Willian (Chelsea), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Rafinha (Barcelona)

Forwards: Douglas Costa (Bayern Munich), Hulk (Zenit), Gabigol (Santos), Ricardo Oliveira (Santos)

Goal

Brazil Name Copa America Squad, Kaka And Oscar Out

David Luiz and Thiago Silva Out Of Brazil Copa América Squad

Brazil Coach Dunga has announced a preliminary squad for the Copa América with the Paris Saint-Germain duo of David Luiz and Thiago Silva being left out.

The good performances of Paulo Henrique Ganso in recent games for São Paulo seems to have convinced Dunga to include him.

In the preliminary list of 40 players released for the Copa América Centenário, the coach included the number 10 of São Paulo, who’s been absent from the national team since 2012.

Other new names on the list by Dunga are Fágner [Corinthians], Rodrigo Caio [São Paulo], Casemiro [Real Madrid] and Walace [Grêmio].

The squad also includes Gabigol, Gabriel Jesus and Grêmio attacker Luan. As expected, Neymar was left out, as Barcelona would only release the player for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The final list of 23 players for the tournament will be released on Thursday.

Goalkeepers: Álisson (Inter), Diego Alves (Valencia), Marcelo Gröhe (Grêmio) and Éderson (Benfica).

Full-backs: Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Fagner (Corinthians), Fabinho (Monaco), Luis Filipe (Atletico Madrid), Alex Sandro (Juventus) and Douglas Santos (Atlético-MG).

Defenders: Miranda (Inter Milan), Gil (Shandong Luneng), Marquinhos (PSG), Jemerson (Monaco) and Gabriel Paulista (Arsenal).

Defensive-midfielders: Rodrigo Caio (São Paulo), Luiz Gustavo (Wolfsburg), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Walace (Grêmio), Elias (Corinthians) and Fernandinho (Machester City).

Attacking-midfielders: Ganso (São Paulo), Rafinha (Barcelona), Renato Augusto (Beijing Guoan), Kaká (Orlando City), Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool), Oscar (Chelsea), Lucas Lima (Santos), Willian (Chelsea) and Felipe Anderson (Lazio).

Forwards: Lucas (PSG), Douglas Costa (Bayern), Luan (Grêmio), Hulk (Zenit), Firmino (Liverpool), Jonas (Benfica), Alex Teixeira (Jiangsu Suning) Gabigol (Santos), Gabriel Jesus (Palmeiras) and Ricardo Oliveira (Santos).

David Luiz and Thiago Silva Out Of Brazil Copa América Squad

Brazil Defines 40-Man List For Copa América Centenário

The Brazilian Football Confederation has defined a preliminary list of 40 players for the Copa América Centenário, which will be played between 3 and 26 June, in the United States.

The meeting was attended by coach Dunga, his assistant Andrey Lopes, and team coordinator Gilmar Rinaldi.

The tournament’s rule requires all participating teams to send a list of 40 players to CONMEBOL within April 29. Then on May 5, Dunga will reveal the final 23 players he’s chosen, including three goalkeepers.

A possible replacement for an injury can be picked from the 40-man list, if a medical report is presented.

The Brazilian team starts their preparations in Los Angeles, on May 23. The opening game is scheduled for June 4 against Ecuador. They then takes on Haiti on the 8th, and Peru, on the 12th.

The main absentee from Brazil’s squad is Barcelona forward Neymar. Despite repeated attempts, the Brazilian football federation failed to convince Barcelona to release the player for two competitions, and he will play only in the Olympics.

Brazil Defines 40-Man List For Copa América Centenário

Barcelona Won’t Release Neymar For Copa America

Barcelona have announced that they will only allow Neymar to play in the Olympics for Brazil this summer, but not the Copa América.

The Seleção will be involved in both tournaments this summer and the CBF and Dunga were hopeful of having Neymar available for both.

Technically, Barcelona cannot refuse to release Neymar for the Copa América as it is a FIFA tournament. However, the Olympics is not and the club can refuse to release players for the games.

Brazil slightly prioritise the Olympics, having never won the gold medal for football and with the games taking place in Rio de Janeiro.

Dunga and Barca manager Luis Enrique have held talks over recent weeks regarding the Brazil captain’s summer schedule, but Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu told journalists on Saturday that they would not countenance releasing their forward for two tournaments during the off season.

“It will be impossible to convince us [to release the player twice],” Bartomeu said, according to UOL Esporte. “We are aware of the importance [of the Copa America], but our view is that players need to have some rest after two strong seasons.

“We see no problem in Neymar playing at the Olympics,” he said. “The club would be enchanted, and I would take him if I were the Brazilian manager.”

Meanwhile, Bartomeu insisted the club are not worried about the player’s unresolved contract issue, “Barca don’t need to hurry. We won’t put pressure on the player, and instead we will allow him to focus on the competitions,” Bartomeu said.

“I know we won’t have problems because the player himself has already said he wants to stay. Our plan is to have him here until the end of his career.”

Credit: Sambafoot

Barcelona Won’t Release Neymar For Copa America

Venezuela Win South American U-17 Women"s Title

Venezuela defeated Brazil to clinch the CONMEBOL U-17 Championship at the weekend, watched by a huge crowd of 41,000.

In the last day of games in the final round of the U-17 Sudamericano, Brazil and hosts Venezuela began on six points each and met in front of a capacity crowd at the Metropolitan Stadium in Lara.

Deyna Castilian scored the only goal of the match on 47 minutes to win the cup, with both sides already qualified for the U-17 World Cup in Jordan.

Paraguay came from behind to beat Colombia 2-1 and secure the confederation’s third place at the finals

An opener by Manuela Vanegas was overturned as Jessica Martinez bagged a five-minute brace before the break.

Credit: Conmebol.com

Venezuela Win South American U-17 Women"s Title

Neymar Wants To Play At Olympics And Copa América Centenário

Even after the conversation between Dunga and Luis Enrique last week, there is still no official announcement on Neymar’s participation at the Olympic Games and Copa América Centenário.

Brazilian Football Federation will have another meeting with Barcelona, but Neymar hopes the parties reach an agreement, so that he can play in both tournaments.

He told Globo Esporte: “I want to play both. I’m 24, I have to take advantage of this gas [laughs]. In a few years I will no longer be able to do it all. I think today I have the gas, yes. I don’t know anything about the conversation that Dunga had with the coach. Let’s see what happens. I’ll talk to the coach here and to those responsible for it. I hope to play the two.”

Brazil FA wants Neymar in both competitions, but Barça are playing hardball and want to release the player only for one, so that he would have time to rest between the current and next seasons. Dunga has already indicated that, if given the choice, he prefers to see Neymar in the Olympics.

Source: Sambafoot

Neymar Wants To Play At Olympics And Copa América Centenário