2016 Copa America games is about two months away and a total of 40 names have been selected for the football tournament by Brazil’s national team coach, Dunga.
The 16 teams soccer event to be hosted in the United States of America permits each national team to submit a 23-man list before the competition kicks off. The list, as scheduled by the Local Organizing Committee must be tendered on or before May 20.
Notable names missing in Dunga’s list are his former team captains – Paris Saint Germain’s Thiago Silva and Neymar (whose club, FC Barcelona have already confirmed will only be available in the summer for Rio Olympics). The Rio de Janeiro games will be in August whereas the Copa America games starts in June.
Other omissions in the Selecao team include: Real Madrid’s Marcelo and PSG’s David Luiz.
For a very long time since Brazil participated in the 2015 Copa America games in Chile, Silva has never been selected to represent the country. The team finally lost to Paraguay on penalties in the quarter-finals of the competition.
The former captain has faced criticisms from the tactician who thinks he is too emotional as well as mentally unbalanced. He was blamed for Brazil’s exit and therefore, made a scapegoat.
It’ll be recalled that Silva was demoted as the national team’s captain at the 2014 World Cup which led to series of altercations in the media. Neymar was named captain and the young Barca forward has retained the arm band to this day.
The Selecao are still making preparations for the upcoming games. It’s been reported that on May 5, at 11am, Dunga will release the final list of 23 players at the CBF headquarters in Rio de Janeiro.
Neymar’s countrymen will play in Group B against Ecuador, Haiti and Peru.
Brazil hopes this will be another historical time they’ll win the Copa America which was last celebrated since 2007. The South American country plays their final preparatory friendly match at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado on May 29.
They take on Ecuador at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on June 4 in their first group match before traveling east to take on Haiti on June 7 in Orlando, Florida at the Citrus Bowl and will finish off their group matches against Peru in Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium on June 12.
Brazil Preliminary COPA America 2016 Squad:
Goalkeepers: Alisson (Internacional), Diego Alves (Valencia), Ederson (Benfica), Marcelo Grohe (Gremio)
Defenders: Dani Alves (Barcelona), Rodrigo Caio (Sao Paulo), Fabinho (Monaco), Fagner (Corinthians), Gil (Shandong Luneng), Jemerson (Monaco), Filipe Luis (Atletico Madrid), Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain), Miranda (Inter), Gabriel Paulista (Arsenal), Alex Sandro (Juventus), Douglas Santos (Atletico Mineiro)
Midfielders: Rafinha Alcantara (Barcelona), Felipe Anderson (Lazio), Renato Augusto (Beijing Guoan), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Douglas Costa (Bayern Munich), Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool), Elias (Corinthians), Fernandinho (Manchester City), Paulo Henrique Ganso (Sao Paulo), Luiz Gustavo (Wolfsburg), Kaka (Orlando City), Lucas Lima (Santos), Lucas Moura (Paris Saint-Germain), Oscar (Chelsea), Walace (Gremio), Willian (Chelsea)
Forwards: Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Gabriel (Santos), Hulk (Zenit), Gabriel Jesus (Palmeiras), Jonas (Benfica), Luan (Gremio), Ricardo Oliveira (Santos), Alex Teixeira (Jiangsu Suning)
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