And so it is out. Luiz Felipe Scolari names his 23-strong contingent who will head the host’s challenge in the month-long World Cup. Lots and lots of familiar faces in the squad, but a bittersweet pill to swallow for all those mired in the gloried past who wanted one last bite of a Ronaldinho or a Kaka. Sorry for those sorry souls, but shouldn’t we feel much more sorry for the aforementioned Ronaldinho and Kaka? Or should we wet it all off for Felipe Luis who could be holding aloft both the Liga Espagnola and the UEFA Champions League before seeing off his teammates on the plane? Did we see Coutinho booking a World Cup place when he scored the winner against Manchester City for Liverpool, or, were we wrong?
The cases for Ronaldinho and Kaka could’ve been unique ones; cases that could’ve hampered Scolari and his decisions ahead. Ronaldinho isn’t exactly the Bernard, neither is Kaka the Oscar. Both are strong personalities and most importantly, the leaders. While the same couldn’t be said of Bernard or Oscar, the relative newboys in the national setup. The old guard has been dispensed with, and for good or bad will be known the moment Brazil win the thing or ruin the thing. That said, their non-selection makes the team bereft of the characters, so badly needed when they swallowed defeat at the Netherlands’ hands in South Africa 2010. We don’t even bring then manager Dunga into the picture, and should we do so, it changes the dynamics for worse. Scolari is known for his adventure, but whether this adventure of his without two of the most followed sportspersons in the country sees the chequered flag is another reason to be skeptical about Brazil’s chances. But then, why haven’t Ronnie and Kaka played for Brazil in years? Ageing yes, and both have had the most say in Brazil’s disasters of World Cups in the past decade. Time for a change, and everybody saw it coming, since ages.
Luiz Felipe-Felipe Luis. Sums that right? Felipe Luis’s parents named him in a manner to offend Scolari-or so it seems now, but the silky-haired, tilt-faced hottie-in-the-dirt and skilled-at-his-profession Felipe Luis was destined to head to his first major tournament with Brazil, but couldn’t. Perhaps that explains why his club teammate Diego Costa rebuffed Brazil’s advances and instead went to play for Spain. Hard luck Felipe, at least he could now treat his hair to the beaches and return to pre-season with more qualms and less quails. It would be extremely hard to name a full-back (let alone a left-back) who’s done as well as Felipe in the past year. He turns 29 this August, and Roberto Carlos played his last for Brazil aged 33. So some hope there? Or guess it’s over for the talented Felipe, who could now easily move on to obscurity and fill his purses without much concern. That’s the plight of Brazilian football; that’s what you get if football is life in your country. Too many options, not many openings. ‘Big Phil’ must have had a big thought about this one, I guess.
Other notable absentees will of course be Liverpool’s young turk Coutinho, the one-time wunderkind Robinho, Tottenham’s bearded brute Sandro and Paris SG’s filthy rich Lucas Moura. All of the four haven’t done much worse, but the fact that the selected lot had much more to offer Scolari and had been on his mind’s back when he made the calls made it count. Loyalty breeds a special relationship. Scolari has won Brazil the World Cup once before, and there are only a select few who doubt his credentials or his choices. He for one is the best at making such decisions, and getting his selections right or wrong won’t matter so much as long as Brazil inch closer and closer to their final, the Maracana final.
The Brazil squad in full:
Julio Cesar, Jefferson, Victor, Dante, Dani Alves, David Luiz, Thiago Silva, Henrique, Maicon, Marcelo, Maxwell, Fernandinho, Hernanes, Luiz Gustavo, Oscar, Paulinho, Ramires, Willian, Fred, Hulk, Jo, Bernard, Neymar.