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No country on the planet has a relationship with the FIFA World Cup like Brazil does. They are the most successful team in the history of the tournament and the only country to have participated in all the tournaments.
Some of the best performers at the grandest stage are also from Brazil and I’m talking about the likes of Pele, Garrincha and Ronaldo Nazario.
Sadly for Brazil, they’ve had heartbreaks when they hosted the World Cup. They lost the final in 1950 in front of nearly 200,000 people and four years ago, they were humbled 7-1 by eventual winners, Germany, in the semifinal.
As usual, Brazil are among the favourites to lift the trophy in Russia and Tite has already announced the squad that will represent the Selecao. Now because Brazil is a country that churns out talented players constantly, several world class players are bound to miss out. So, on that note, we picked out a Brazilian XI that consists of players who won’t be featuring at the 2018 FIFA World Cup:
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Goalkeeper: Neto
After many years, Brazil has not one but two excellent goalkeepers in their squad. Roma’s Alisson Becker is Tite’s preferred #1 with Manchester City’s Ederson having to settle for a backup role!
Coming to the third goalkeeper in the squad, Tite went with Cássio Ramos of Corinthians. It would be unfair to question his decision but Valencia’s Neto also deserved a chance. However, Ramos worked under Tite when he was the manager of Corinthians.
Neto, aged 28, has never been capped at the senior level by Brazil. He was called up to the squad for the 2015 Copa America but only served as an understudy.
The former Fiorentina and Juventus man moved to Valencia at the start of the season and was instrumental as Valencia secured UEFA Champions League qualification after finishing 12th in the previous two seasons!
Fullbacks: Dani Alves and Alex Sandro
The two fullbacks on this list are missing out for contrasting reasons but it would be appropriate to say that either one of them would walk into the starting XI of almost every single football club on the planet.
Dani Alves was Brazil’s first choice right-back but an untimely injury has forced him out with former Wolfsburg defender Fagner taking his place in the squad and Manchester City’s Danilo is likely to start.
Alves, who turned 35 this month, is the most decorated footballer on the planet, having picked up a plethora of trophies with Sevilla, Barcelona, Juventus and PSG, and he would have loved to cap it off with a World Cup winners medal.
Alex Sandro’s case is different, the Juventus man missed out because the two left-backs in the squad are Marcelo and Filipe Luis.
Marcelo is the first choice left-back and Tite opted to take Luis as his backup option. If he picked Sandro, then Luis would have missed out. However, Luis is 32 and Sandro is 27, so the former may not have another chance to play at the World Cup while Sandro can hope to go to Qatar in 2022 as the first choice left-back.
Central defenders: David Luiz and Jemerson
Even without David Luiz and Jemerson, Brazil’s central defenders currently feature Thiago Silva, Marquinhos, Miranda and Pedro Geromel.
Now one can argue that Luiz would have been a better option than Geromel, but Luiz has rarely played this season after a fallout at Chelsea with Antonio Conte. He is a fan favourite and the positive aura he creates will certainly be missed.
Jemerson, on the other hand, should consider himself unlucky after two back to back impressive seasons with Monaco. He was an important member of the Monaco side that won the league title last season beyond all expectations.
However, managers usually have a set of players they prefer and that can be the only reasonable explanation for the inclusion of Geromel.
Midfielders: Fabinho, Oscar and Anderson Talisca
Before I discuss the three midfielders I picked for this XI, let me just say that Brazil has so many options in midfield that I had to leave out the likes of Arthur, Ramires, Giuliano, Lucas Leiva and Diego!
In my opinion, the most notable player left out of the Brazil squad and the one who certainly deserved a call-up is Fabinho of AS Monaco.
Fabinho has been one of the better defensive midfielders in Europe for the last two years and several top European clubs are hoping to sign him in the summer. But Fabinho has never been called up to the national team by Tite! It is understandable because the two players Tite has picked in his position are Casemiro and Fernandinho!
There were calls to pick Fabinho after the injury to Dani Alves as Fabinho used to play as a right-back before successfully converting to a defensive midfielder. However, Tite was unlikely to take such a big risk going into the World Cup.
Oscar is the scorer of Brazil’s last World Cup goal - a consolation goal when Germany put seven past the Brazilian’s in the World Cup semifinal.
The former Chelsea man’s exclusion is not surprising as only one Brazilian plying their trade in China has made the cut and that is Renato Augusto. Augusto’s inclusion is mostly because he has played under Tite at Corinthians and the manager trusts the player.
The final midfielder on this list is Anderson Talisca who is also uncapped at the senior level. Talisca played the last two seasons for Besiktas on loan from Benfica and scored 36 goals in 77 games!
Aged 24, Talisca has plenty of time on his hands to break into the Brazil team but he may have to move to a more competitive league and show his worth and to subsequently enhance his chances of playing for Brazil.
Forwards: Lucas Moura, Willian Jose and Malcom
Brazil’s forwards at the World Cup feature Neymar, Roberto Firmino, Gabriel Jesus, Phlippe Coutinho, Willian, Douglas Costa and Taison! So it would be fair to say that Tite has picked his best players.
Tottenham’s Lucas Moura was touted to have as good a future as Neymar. In fact, PSG signed him for a hefty fee in 2013 after fending off interest from Manchester United. However, his career graph didn’t pan out the way most believed it would.
His move to Spurs in January was in the hope of more game time but he hasn’t been able to do that yet. Still only 25, Moura can revive his career if he wants to feature in Qatar in 2022.
Willian Jose of Real Sociedad would have made the World Cup squad four years ago as Brazil’s strikers were Fred and Jo! This time around, Brazil go to the World Cup with Roberto Firmino and Gabriel Jesus, two of the best strikers in the Premier League and Europe.
Jose has scored 18 goals in 33 games for Real Sociedad this season which is actually one more than Gabriel Jesus managed in 42 games for Manchester City this season and Jesus is Brazil’s first choice striker.
However, numbers alone don’t do the trick as Jesus has a proven track record with Brazil having notched 9 goals in 15 games despite his tender age. In fact, Tite even admitted that Firmino had a better season than Jesus, but the latter will be starting for Brazil.
It is true that Firmino did better than Gabriel Jesus, who was injured in the season, but Gabriel in the Seleção plays very well. So yes, today he is our No.9.
Completing the XI is Malcom of Bordeaux who is a player that Tite is familiar with. A teenaged Malcom was part of Tite’s Corinthians squad that won the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A in 2015.
Malcom had a terrific season for Bordeaux as he racked up 11 goals and 6 assists in the Ligue 1. There were rumours that Tite would consider calling him up but that hasn’t happened yet.
The 21-year-old is rumoured to be on his way out of Bordeaux this summer with many potential suitors and if he can replicate his good form elsewhere then he could be in line for a future call-up, especially if Tite remains in charge of the national team.
