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Brazil names young squad for USA friendly

Robinho (ISIphotos.com)

Robinho and Dani Alves join Chelsea target Ramires as the three World Cup veterans named to a young Brazil squad for the August 10th friendly against the United States at the New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey.

Young sensations Neymar and Paulo Henrique Ganso and World Cup snub Alexandre Pato were also called up by newly-named Brazil manager Mano Menezes.

Here is the full squad:

Alexandre Pato (AC Milan), André (Santos), André Santos (Fenerbahçe), Carlos Eduardo (Hoffenheim), Daniel Alves (Barcelona), David Luíz (Benfica), Diego Tardelli (Atlético Mineiro), Ederson (Lyon), Paulo Henrique Ganso (Santos), Henrique (Racing Santander), Hernanes (São Paulo), Jeferson (Botafogo), Jucilei (Corinthians), Lucas (Liverpool), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Neymar (Santos), Rafael (Manchester United), Ramires (Benfica), Renan (Avaí), Rever (Atlético Mineiro), Robinho (Santos), Sandro (Internacional), Thiago Silva (AC Milan), Victor (Grêmio)

What do you think of the team? Hoping the United States also calls up a young team?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Let’s be realistic. It’s Brazil. The best U.S. players have to play or else the result will be an embarrassment.

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  2. Ok, you’re clearly not getting me. It’s what he does when he comes off the bench that is impressive. Of course I’d call him up if he were tearing up the MLS. But, since when is 6 goals tearing up the MLS? Braun has been a starter for Chivas USA almost every match and only has one more goal than Mike Grella, who comes off the bench to score all his goals.

    Moreover, if you want to talk about people who aren’t consistent starters, why not talk about Jozy Altidore while you’re at it. He hasn’t been a consistent starter since his days at New York Red Bulls, but we start him every match, barring injury/experimenal matches. Do you object to that?

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  3. Would like to see Feilhaber selected to begin grooming him for a leadership role in ’14, plus he’s adept in the style Brazil will likely impose on the game. Plus some of the other guys who played fringe roles for the WC team, maybe Edu and Torres, or even Jermaine Jones w/ his top-flight experience. But we have some promising young players. Maybe a Ream-Gonzales central D pairing? Attempt to cap Ryan Smith, etc? Lots of impressive young guys that should be given a chance imo

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  4. –Jozy—Charlie–
    ——————
    —–Donovan——
    -Gringo—-Holden-
    —–Bradley——
    ——————
    -JohnB——JohnS-
    —-Good–Gooch—
    ——————
    ——-Guzan——

    Forwards; Buddle, Herc, Adu

    Midfielders; Mix, Sacha, Bedoya, Edu

    Defenders; Franklin, Omar, Marshall

    GK’s; Cervi, Seitz

    … and maybe and DMB.

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  5. I understand your point, but I think sometimes players should be called up even if they aren’t doing much for their club. After all this is just a friendly.
    If you look at Gio Dos Santos he’s not doing much for his club but he’s a star on his national team. I’m not saying Freddy will be the MNT star I just think he should have more chances to play for national side regardless of his club situation.

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  6. Ethan, for whatever it is worth, this year Red Bulls beat Santos (Neymar’s and Robinho’s team) and DC United beat AC Milan (Pato’s team). I agree that this Brazilian squad has talent and firepower, but let’s not overate them. They are just starting to build the new team for 2014.

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  7. So if grella was tearing up mls you wouldn’t call him up? not being a consistent starter is not good enough. I don’t care where you play if you spend the majority of the year on the bench then how does that get you a call up? It doesn’t to me, if that’s the case then we might as well call in Kenny Cooper.

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  8. GREAT question if anyone even the writer can answer that question. What young US player is out there not on the national team right now that anyone can truly call potential? They are all mediocre to okay level talent.

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  9. You seem to think earning a spot for Chivas USA is easier than earning a spot for Leeds, which is not true. Moreover, you also seem to think because Grella’s not starting, he’s not any good, which is also not true. Leeds have found him to be excellent off the bench and with Jermain Beckford gone to Everton, Grella is a lot closer to a starting spot, and may even have one already. Simply starting for an MLS club isn’t enough. If it were, you’d see a VERY indiscriminate pool of poor players for the USMNT. The point is to be playing well and, of course, score and Grellas has clearly scored and impressed for Leeds, otherwise he wouldn’ have gotten 34 appearances last season.

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  10. Speed can come in long runs on a counterattack (although distribution and positioning are at least as important), but it can also come during more regular offensive play in the short bursts with or without the ball, from mulitple players, that open holes in the defense. Especially when the defense is settled in, speed on and off the ball in the final third is critical.

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  11. After thinking about it, I would send out a different lineup more focused on younger players and here they are

    Fuad Ibrahim, Altidore, Feilhaber, Jermaine Jones, Jose Francisco Torres, Holden, Pearce, Demerit, Onyewu, Spector and Guzan. My subs would be Tristan Bowen, Amobi Okugo, Maurice Edu, David Estrada, Gale Agbossoumonde, Tim Ream and Bill Hamid.

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  12. Wouldn’t mind some of our most talented youngsters as long as Donovan, Bradley, Dempsey, Jozy, Edu, Howard, and at least One starting defender out there (Bornstein doesn’t count). Sub others in in the second half. Want to see Holden, Diskerud, Gonzalez, Bedoya, as well as Charlie called into camp at least.

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  13. Actually I do watch league one and I have watched Leeds play quite a few times, I even watched grella when he was at Duke, the point is he does not play day n day out, if we are arguing for a target Guy then he is still behind Jozy and buddle. I can’t even compare him to mcbride that would be completely disrespectful to Brian. Braun and Barrett are starters they’ve earned it, grella hasn’t.

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  14. It’s not like Freddy Adu hasn’t been working. From what I’ve seen, Freddy has retained his skill and vision while being able to make sure his play doesn’t revolve around constantly using this things to crack open the game. Moreover, his work rate is better than I’ve ever seen it before, scrappily fighting for loose balls and tracking back to defend while still having a rather large offensive impact. Why he stopped getting playing time I don’t really know, but he was impressive when he was getting it, which seems to be the case when he plays for his clubs, in most cases anyways. I think the point is also that we do have to start building and we have to start finding the kinds of players to replace Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey. Even when off form, Freddy is probably ore creative and skilled than these two guys, but his rust due to lack of playing time got to him. If Aris give him time and we give him a chance, who knows? He may impress us.

    Of course, he could just as easily bomb out. I just think he deserves a chance, but I won’t be heart broken if he doesn’t get it.

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  15. This young Brazilian squad will be playing very hard to secure a place in the national team. It should make this friendly a very interesting match.

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  16. Those were Santos reserves + Neymar… He’ll have a lot better assistance this time around, although it’s unlikely he’ll be a starter.

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  17. well… that probably has something to do with promotion/relegation and the fact that there are more American players in the MLS…

    Also, what does pace have to do with anything at this point? Brian McBride isn’t exactly a speed demon I don’t have to point out what he’s done for the USA. Moreover, Grella has looked more impressive over his entire career than Barret or Braun. A hat trick in his trial game, 5 goals in 34 appearances, and some pretty positive reviews by all the Leeds fans and anyone who pays attention to League One. Not jus that, but it’s easy to sit there and say Braun and Barret are better when I doubt you even watch League One, much less Leeds, as opposed to the MLS which gets a fair amount of coverage.

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  18. Dude Bowen has been playing good and also we have some U-20’s; other then Agbossoumonde coming up in the Portuguese league. Also Isaac I would like to add Convey to your list, even though him and Bradley has bad blood towards each other. 🙂

    Reply
  19. Agreed. The trouble with this friendly date is that it comes 4 days before the start of the EPL season; some of the Euro-based players will probably ask to stay at their clubs depending on their roster spot situation.

    On the other hand, since teams are only required to release players for 48 hours on FIFA friendly dates, that doesn’t give a lot of time to come together and practice, so it does make sense to call in some combination of WC players, especially players that are familiar with each other on the back line or played in the midfield together.

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  20. There’s a reason he’s “not really doing anything right now”.

    I don’t want to get to sanctimonious about it but playing for the US, at any time,and especially aginst as prestigous an opponent as Brazil, is an honor that should be EARNED not given out to people who just happen to be hanging out chillin.

    There are other promising,new young talents who’ve actually earned the right to be considered more so than Adu.

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  21. Don’t see how people can call for grella over braun or even Barrett. Both are faster and play in a better league. You can say what you want about the training and being in Europe, but if you look at the numbers in the last five years mls has put more players in the Prem than league one has.

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  22. “I didn’t say that Dunga’s side lacked speed, although I’m not sure his tactics or players were designed to maximize the use of it when the counter wasn’t available. ”

    In offensive terms, speed is most important in the counterattack.

    So when you say “I’m not sure his tactics or players were designed to maximize the use of it when the counter wasn’t available. ” the only other way to maximise the use of speed is on defense, to help neutalize counters against your team.

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  23. while that would be neat, I think that’s what the sendoff series was for. do you really think that cool n da gang will get releases from every club they’ll need to… um, get releases from?

    I say we bring in as many young uns as we can. cap ’em and bleed ’em early!

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  24. I know this will warrant backlash but I think Freddy Adu should play in this game. He’s not really doing anything right now and I think this would be a good match for him.
    I’d also like to see Bedoya and Brek Shea get call ups. I especially want to see Brek Shea because I’ve seen a couple of Dallas games and he played well. I want to see what he can do for the MNT.

    Omar Salgado would also be a good call up. j/k, kind of.

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  25. I think we’re going to see a lot of our starters. Coming off the Cup, Gulati is probably going to want to keep momentum going with the public. It wouldn’t be intelligent to leave out our A Team. And this Brazil team is still loaded. As a Milan fan, I love watching a healthy Pato (can’t remember when I last saw that), and Thiago Silva. He is a pleasure.

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  26. It’s funny to see people hating on this Brazilian team, yet we’ll be excited to see Mikkel Diskerud get called up. I’m interested to see how Brazil align. It would be a treat to see Pato, Robinho, Neymar, & Ganso all on the field from the start.

    As for the twins, they’re an interesting story. Before they left for Manchester United, Fabio received all the praise and was considered by many coaches to be the eventual successor to Roberto Carlos. He is comfortable with both feet and almost confident to a fault. After spending 6 months in England — and due to injures to Neville & O’Shea — Rafael was considered the favored twin. All in all, I imagine they’ll both feature quite often for United & Brazil in the future.

    By the way, isn’t Sandro a Tottenham player now? Or is that a fresh face?

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  27. I don’t think many star players will be called in, as much as I’d love to see Dempsey, Bradley, Jozy etc it just won’t happen.

    I say reward a couple great MLS players like Bobby Convey and Jeff Larentowicz. Also bring in some young talent Alston, Gonzalez, or Schilawski. This game means nothing, we might as well cap and take a look at some new players

    GK: Troy Perkins, Brad Guzan, Luis Robles

    Def: Jonathan Bornstein, Kevin Alston, Omar Gonzalez, Chad Marshall, Clarence Goodson, Heath Pearce, Jay Demerit, Edgar Castillo

    Mid: Alejandro Bedoya, Bobby Convey, Jose Francisco Torres, Kyle Beckerman, Mikkel Diskerud, Landon Donovan, Jeff Larentowicz

    Fw: Edson Buddle, Mike Grella, Zack Schilawski, Robbie Findley

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  28. I didn’t say that Dunga’s side lacked speed, although I’m not sure his tactics or players were designed to maximize the use of it when the counter wasn’t available. I said that Mano’s side is (or should be) more “fast and fluid” — watch Santos play with their 4 call-ups Robinho, Ganso, Neymar, and Andre, and imagine Pato added to that mix. Should be a much more attack minded side — think Spain, but faster and more eager to get to the net.

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  29. Hanhemann, Rimando, Hesmer, Pearce, Gonzalez, Goodson, Marshall, Bornstein, Spector, Sean Franklin, Feilhaber, Beasley (C), Holden, Bedoya, Rogers, Kljestan, Edu, Brian Carroll, Adu, Eddie Johnson, Herculez Gomez, Edson Buddle, Jozy Altidore

    Reply
  30. Altidore, Davies, Fuad Ibrahim, Jermaine Jones, Jose Francisco Torres, Feilhaber, Bocanegra, Onyewu, Demerit, Spector, Guzan. Here would be my subs, Bowen, Okugo, Bradley, Edu, Agbossoumonde, Pearce, Hamid. I would just try to put some new faces into the national program.

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  31. Before you break up this US squad and call up every internet fave pick ( Pittman, Grella,Tracy, Dirk Benedict’s son, etc., etc.) think about the fact that we need to win the Gold Cup of 2011.

    That is the only way we get into the Confederations Cup of 2013, which will be the dress rehearsal tournament for World Cup 2014 in Brazil.

    That might be very useful to us.

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  32. August 7th the Galaxy play Real Madrid (Rose Bowl) and August 14th they play Red Bulls in Jersey. I wouldn’t mind seeing Donovan dedicated to the Galaxy in August for his club matches. Maybe he trains with the USMNT since he’ll be in the area a few days after the game.

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  33. For 11 of the Brazilians if they get in the match it will be their first senior cap. Brazil is looking to the future with only 3 players on the rosters that have more than 10 caps. We need to be doing the same. I might bring a few from the World Cup maybe Feilhaber, Altidore, Bornstein and Torres.

    Reply

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