Fútbolita

From the looks of it, all Detinho (next to Ronaldo) wants is a FREE PASS to Mano Menezes‘ next seleção bootcamp! That expression on his face says it all. You could dial an ambulance and you still won’t be able to incept the Menezes/Detinho mind game because dude is dying to go to Granja Comary ASAP. They have a secret pact which does not include Roberto Carlos, infelizmente.

The point of this is to put our hands together, stand in a circle and say “Bem-vindo!!!” to the former Corinthians coach who will needing some of Dopey’s sleeping pills now as the official Brazilian national team coach! E ai MANO?!

Take a good look at the man whose first job is to say “Felipe Melo Who?”

Photos via Mauricio Lima/AFP

What’s with the reports about Dunga (that’s his daughter, btw, and this is his wife) being ‘sacked’ by the Brazilian futebol federation? Estúpidos! Everybody already knew of his intention to step down as coach during the qualifiers! And obviously, he was going to leave his post regardless of the result. There’s so much ego & merda going on now that some of it needs to be taken care of by Gattuso’s fish restaurant. An escargot would be ideal…

Anyway, HERE’S Dunga’s resignation letter – full of formality and… err, Dunganess. He will be missed! Please bring back Felipão or someone less intimidating – and more huggable – in 2014, so I can make that ‘flight joke’ again and not get stared down.

Now it’s time for Dunga’s squad to beat the strong and powerful Ivory Coast. Julio Baptista and Julio Cesar said yesterday that they are “our stronger challenge.” I guess it may be true. Our players have now to leave a god impression for Brazilian supporters (who are not happy with our boys, but are really hopeful).  As we say “Sou brasileiro, não desisto nunca!” (I’m a brazilian, and never give up).

The Ivory Coast’s squad has really strong players. And they’re also tall and able to do good finalizations with crosses in the area (wich we are not doing good so far). But Robinho promised good results for tomorrow. “The general run of things says that we are going to better than last game. The anxiety is gone”, he said. And that’s what we are expecting!

The game is going to be tough tomorrow and the only enemy isn’t the Ivory Coast and Mr. Drogba. The low temperature is a problem for our tropical players. Although come of them play in Europe, it’s never easy to play with a -2 celsius temperature. Julio Cesar said what he needs to beat this enemy. “I asked for thermal pants so I don’t feel so cold”, he admitted.

Gilberto Silva is ready for tomorrow (Photo : Zimbio)

Another problem we went through this week, was a possible absense of Gilberto Silva . He got injuried in a training, but Dunga calmed us all down. Our ‘teacher’ (as the players call him) confirmed Silva for tomorrow, and said that he will be doing alright, with that rude way of being. Some journalists today complained about him saying Dunga is not talking about football in his interviews, and only whining about the press’ job, wich is to inform brazilian people about our squad. Polemic or not, this is the impression he is leaving.

Tomorrow it’s party here. There will be a great gathering, families, friends, people who doesn’t even know each other will become best friends in front of the television. Brazil stops (as you may know) during a footbal match when the Seleção Canarinho is on field.

Let’s all sleep tonight praying for our players to do good and to Mr. Stéphane Lannoy (our French referee) to be honest and inspired tomorrow. I don’t have a magical formula for winning, but if our boys play the football we are used to see, the World cup is ours! And as a friend of mine says “to score more that the opponent is always a good way to win.” LOL

Bora, Brasil!!!!

Signing off,

Brazil Futbolita

Hey, everybody! Brazil is totally ready for tomorrow’s game! Everything people think about here in Brazil is that game. As Dunga said today, we do always get nervous before the first game. To brazilian supporters, it’s a little hard to imagine how North Korea will behave tomorrow. Most people here never heard of that squad, but to Brazilian people, unknown team may mean weak challenge. But this is not how Dunga and our players feel. For Dunga, each and every oponent has to be respected.

And he is right. For the second time in a World Cup, North Korea comes 44 years after the first one (when they eliminated Italy), with a very strong team that has stars like Yong Jo Hong (Rostov), In Guk Mun (April 25), and Jong Hyok Cha (Amrokgang).

But with the due respect I might say: Mr. Hong, your kick is strong but we’ve got Julio Cesar, wich is in great form in despite of some comments about his health during the past few days.

Julio Cesar (Photo Zimbio)

About our team for tomorrow it’s a little hard to say if there will be any changes. Seleção’s practice happened closed-doors for one more time, today. Anyway, our spectacular Seleção Canarinho will present us with an outstanding performance. We meet again tomorrow, for a after game analysis.

Signing off,

Your Brazilian Futbolita and 190 million hopeful brazilians!

Julio Cesar (Internazionale),Maicon (Internazionale),Lúcio (Internazionale),Juan (Roma),Felipe Melo (Juventus), Michel Bastos (Lyon),Elano (Galatasaray),Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos),Luis Fabiano (Sevilla), Kaká (wearing the #10 shirt) and Robinho (Santos).

These, ladies and gentlemen are the 11 men who will win this World Cup.

If each and every Brazilian is sure about it now, it wasn’t always like this. Since Dunga’s list came up, a lot of talking was needed to make us believe again.

Dunga’s choice for Brazilian Squad divided opinions in Brazil. Most of common supporters, hated, at first, Dunga’s selection. Why? Since last year, players like Neymar and Ganso improved their game style and got fans attention. It was surprising that on May 11^th, their names weren’t in his list.

In order to represent a more complete “face” of Brazilian supporters, I spoke to three different people, with different levels of understanding about football and different cities. (It was a little hard, but awesome).

Brazil squad is full of players who doesn’t play in Brazil anymore, and that made people feel a little upset, because they didn’t know exactly what to expect from these players. In the other hand, fans who are into European Football, thought Dunga’s choice was nothing but great.

Braitner Moreira is an exception. He runs the quattrotratti.com, a blog wich is totally focused on Italian football, and found Dunga’s choice “lame”. With severe critics to almost all of our players, he is not optimistic.

Ana Beliza is a brazilian journalist who lives in Pernambuco and is a passionate supporter. She is very confident and happy about Brazil’s squad. “Our squad is totally able of bringing us the 6^th championship. I trust in our brazilian boys”, she says. And she is ready to cheer for Brazil!

Other absence in our squad is Adriano. His odd (not to say irreponsable) behaviour may be the reason why he is out. Bernardo Almeida is a student and commented that episode: “ I find it great that Adriano wasn’t on Dunga’s list. Calling him up would be a a revival of our loss in 2006. Now we are ready to win.”

Então, vamos lá!

Signing off,

Raio, Your Brazilian Futbolita.

Finally, the moment has arrived and selecao bootcamp has been finalized for the World Cup! Of course, what’s a call-up to the selecao if it doesn’t involve loads of controversy, overexcited journalists and annoyed Brazilians in general? Joked our Brazilian futbolita, Raio, “People want to kill Dunga now!” presumably for his questionable choices of Felipe Melo and Ramires.

As for the Adriano romanticists, Wolfsburg’s Grafite is definitely a name that shocked them. The Dinho, Pato and Neymar were among the other names that were not called up, although Dinho is still in the ‘reserve squad’

“There is no doubt about Ronaldinho’s ability, but I have to make decisions based on what has happened on the pitch,” he said.

Goalkeeper : Júlio César (Inter de Milão-ITA) / Gomes (Tottenham-ING) /Doni (Roma-ITA)

Defenders : Maicon (Inter de Milão-ITA) / Daniel Alves (Barcelona-ESP) /Gilberto (Cruzeiro) /Michel Bastos (Lyon-FRA) / Juan (Roma-ITA) / Lúcio (Inter de Milão-ITA) / Luisão (Benfica-POR) /Thiago Silva (Milan-ITA)

Midfielders (Defensive & Attacking) : Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos-GRE)  / Felipe Melo (Juventus-ITA) / Josué (Wolfsburg-ALE)  / Kleberson (Flamengo) Elano (Galatasaray-TUR) / Ramires (Benfica-POR) / Kaká (Real Madrid-ESP) /Júlio Baptista (Roma-ITA)

Attackers : Luís Fabiano (Sevilla-ESP) / Nilmar (Villarreal-ESP) /Robinho (Santos)  / Grafite (Wolfsburg-ALE)

For the full list, READ MORE!

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Take a good look at Hotel Fairway in Johannesburg… because this is where the selecao will be based at during the World Cup! Que magníficoooo.

“It’s the place that comes closest to what the Brazilian team is accustomed to having. We need a place that gives us comfort and privacy,” said Dopey.

Even Tiger Woods would want to make his return to sport after looking at that view of the golf course! But there’s really no need to because these days, he can take his golf club and hop onto the Burro Buggy with Assley Cole.

How many different ways can you wear lace? Is Denilson sneakily telling Dunga that he wants a World Cup spot by dribbling about in that jersey? What kind of music does LacePod give you exactly, Cannavaro? And as for Arshavin…breakfast anyone? You’d best watch the ad for yourself… and try not to snort at Materazzi’s take on the role of a Boxer. Che ironia!

So these days, The Dinho’s form is picking up and everyone – your hamster included – believes there’s good chance he’ll be called up to the selecao. The dude’s still got it in him, of course, but what’s worrying is his fluctuating stamina. Sometimes, he runs like a florist on the way to pick up a basket of Daisies.

“He still likes to party into the night as he celebrated victory over Juventus in a nightclub,” said one Italian journalist, Mattia Fontana.  “They said in December that he would be barred from the game against Fiorentina because of one of these escapades. But the game didn’t take place because of bad weather in Italy at that time. In other words, his behavior has not changed, but he found a coach who helped him a lot.”

All The Dinho needs now is consistency and looking at that photo above, probably a shampoo and conditioner from The Body Shop for El Pato’s dry hair. Futbolitas, time to go old school again…

via AP, Globo

If you saw Dopey enjoying a little suntan at the beach, would you stop him? Of course you would! It’s the right thing to do – especially if you get fotos clássico like this one! Anyway, who cares about the World Cup, right Dunga? He hasn’t even decided his squad list yet and neither has he made the pilgrimage to check on his players all over Europe to see if they’re the right fit.

Instead, it’s time to enjoy the sun and the sea in Garopaba, Brazil while the rest of Europe endures freezing temperatures and Earl Greys next to a warm fireplace. They might as well play “Boy from Ipanema” now as Dunga starts eliminating names from his diário (“Ronaldinho, não. Hulk, talvez. Nilmar, sim ou Futbolita vai me matar ……”)

via Ignacio Mendez and Ole

Oh, meu Deus. Por favor nos ajude! Franz Beckenbauer may have been a football legend etc, but he’s evoking criticism in Brasil for all the wrong reasons. He has accused Dunga and Jorginho aka our cool treinadores of removing the “attacking flair” from the team and said Brasil have transformed into a defensive team instead. Oi Onkel, everyone knows that the selecao’s weakness is its defense, so obviously if the entire backline is thinking of caipirinhas, everyone else has to react. And certainly, you would know Beckenbauer… you were once the world’s best sweeper! Hell, you were the inventor of that position.

“The selection has scored more than 100 goals and conceded 30. I wanted to understand how we are defensive,” said Jorginho. “They made the same criticism in 1994 and Brazil was champion with a team that was strong on defense, but attacking with two sides at the same time. Parreira, who is here, can tell you about it. The same thing is happening this time although some people think the opposite.”

And for old time’s sake… Franz Sinatra is that you?

via Wikimedia and AFP

Poor Amauri… at the rate things are going for RobinHood’s long lost cousin, he’ll never find a national team to call his own! Before you blame it on Little John, it’s all because Dopey and Lippi can’t make up their minds. Also, Amauri is way past his prime age and eating prunes now, so now we’re left with nobody to blame (don’t you dare say Ranieri Doubtfire).

Anyway, it looks like Pazzini, the striker from Sampdoria, has taken a stab at tipo over here over his Brazilian-Italian citizenship.

“At this point, I do not feel I’m (up against) Amauri, because I’m Italian and he is Brazilian. What I feel is that if a person is half Italian and half Brazilian, he is not really Italian. I must confess that this situation bothers me a bit,” Pazzini said.

Ei chico, go back to high school where you belong! Even the Italian Football federation disagrees with you. “Today, the parameter is citizenship. A player, whether it is an Italian citizen, has every right to be called. We do not want to lose our identity, but also do not want to discriminate against any citizen,” said its president, Giancarlo Abete.

We love this tipo, and we’re sure you do too! Yes, CQC’s resident louco reporter, Felipe Andreoli recently went on one of his missions during the legendary Selecao Bootcamp week and he got pretty far asking Lucas, Luis Fabiano, Dunga, Julio Cesar and Kaka absurd questions. And yes, he even passed them toys! There’s also a cameo appearance by a clone of The Dinho and an intermission featuring Felipe himself at Oktoberfest. E muito engraçado a explicar. Enjoy!

Bom dia and welcome to Day 2 of the Brazilian Bootcamp! Both our coach and goalkeeper are enjoying a Soul Sista moment in the photo above  (Dunga : “Gurrrl, you got strength!” The Cesar : “Adriano ain’t got nuthin’ on me, lady. Uh-uh.” ) And that’s because Juliolita had a field day during yesterday’s training -  saving almost everyone’s shots at goal and getting teased in the process.

Barbecue King, Adriano was really pumped up and put many goals past Julio, but when his former Flamengo mano saved it, there were plenty of jokes. “Are you kicking with all your strength? What do you want? You (Adriano) are always like popcorn to me!” yelled The Cesar. Later, Dunga made the tipos shoot from a further distance, and this time, many of them missed the target. “For those who do not know, the goal of this sport is to score!” joked Julio again.

Meanwhile, Kaka looks like he just saw an ice-cream truck pulling up into the driveway. Unfortunately, Miranda knows that the best person to ask for Cadbury hot chocolate is still Adriano. Damn, tipo brought the whole kitchen! And since it rained, everyone had to warm down quickly and throw on their windbreakers. They had to do their interviews in the rain… and damn, we hate it when that happens! Still, we spotted our worried looking friend, Rodrigo, wearing a hoodie and windbreaker in the clips below. Você olhar engraçado, tio!

Fotos de R.Ribeiro/Getty

So it’s Day 2 of the Soldados Bootcamp and they’re already bullying Robinho! Anyway, the manos did field work yesterday while Daniel Alves, Luisão, Ramires and Elano were immediately sent to the gym upon arrival. Muito grave, indeed!

For training, Dopey divided the squad into two teams- Julio Cesar, Maicon, Lúcio, Miranda, André Santos; Gilberto Silva, Felipe Melo, Julio Baptista, Kaká; Robinho and Luís Fabiano formed one side while Victor, Cristian, Gérson, Juan and Filipe; Sandro, Lucas, João Pedro and Wellington; Nilmar and Adriano made up the other. Crowds formed outside Granja Comary to watch the selecao in action and the U-17 squad also trained with them in preparation for the Copa Sendai in Japan.

These bombshells will board a flight to Rosario at 8pm later tonight and arrive at the Rosario International Airport around midnight. They’d better distribute packets of oreo and milk or else…..

Photos via R.Ribeiro

Ah, an exciting week of international futbol is finally upon us as our hombres prepare to face The Dona’s Argentina on Saturday! Yesterday, the Brazilian Bombshells eagerly assembled at the Tom Jobin International Airport (in Rio) before proceeding to Granja Comary. On arrival, everyone received a welcome snack before heading to bed. Yes, it’s beginning to sound a lot like pre-school…

As you can probably tell, manos were excited to meet each another again (Julio Baptista and Lucas both look thrilled). Barbecue King, Adriano, was also delighted to be back with the selecao but admitted that he "only personally knows Nilmar and Victor" from Dopey’s current squad. Uh, no problem. He’ll make friends just as long as he doesn’t locate an All-You-Can-Eat buffet spread in Rosario.

The players also attended a commercial event for Gillette last night and Julio Cesar, Felipe Melo, Adriano, Juan and Lucio were on hand to test their new series of razors. "Drawing with Argentina will be good enough. If we win, it will have to be with a beard, hair and moustache," joked Julio Cesar as he tried to shave( seriously???). But the worst line had to come from Adriano who was asked by former model, Monique Evans, if any of his girlfriends had ever shaved him. "Not yet, but if you want to…" he replied, laughing. Have you seen Monique Evans?

So Dunga has finalized his tropa that will face Argentina next month… and Adriano aside, we’re excited to see that our friend Lucas has also been summoned! Grandeeeeee mano!

The Dinho and Pato were both left out of the squad again (Milan’s dismal form has been obviously detrimental to their chances ). Kleberson, who is nursing a shoulder injury, was left out of the squad and his place went to Lucas. Andre Santos has also been called up to replace Marcelo while Deportivo la Coruna’s Luis Filipe earned himself a spot after his performance against Estonia earlier this month.

As for churrascaria chubs, Adriano, his call-up doesn’t come as a surprise given his current status in the Brasileirao. He may have a pot belly, but cara is also the league’s top scorer….so he’d better not be lazy!

Here’s the full squad list for Brazil’s qualifying games against Argentina and Chile (to take place in October).

SQUAD LIST :

GOALKEEPERS : Julio César – Inter, Victor – Grêmio
DEFENDERS : Daniel Alves – Barcelona, André Santos – Fenerbahçe, Maicon – Inter, Filipe Luís – La Coruña, Lúcio – Inter, Juan – Roma, Luisão – Benfica, Miranda – São Paulo
MIDFIELDERS : Felipe Melo – Juventus, Elano – Galatasaray, Gilberto Silva – Panathinaikos, Josué – Wolfsburg, Julio Baptista – Roma, Kaká – Real Madrid, Lucas – Liverpool, Ramires – Benfica
ATTACKERS : Robinho – Manchester City, Adriano – Flamengo, Luis Fabiano – Sevilla, Nilmar – Villarreal

Summer tales...... / Foto de R.Ribeiro

The Brazilian bombshells have arrived in Tallin for their friendly against Estonia tomorrow. OK, Gomes doesn’t know anything about the Estonian national team but still, it’s always nice to see the seleção. It cures our homesickness!

Anyway, homies are staying at the Radisson Hotel and except for Inter’s trio of Maicon, Julio Cesar and Lucio who arrive today, a crowd of screaming boys and girls waited to welcome the squad. Doesn’t Felipe Meloooo look like a high school stud trying to round up his gang of friends? Luisao is not amused!

Caras also gathered to have dinner together last night. And ya’ll know that Kaka told the best story at the table followed by Dani Alves‘ fishmonger tale (“Na verdade, eu não comer peixe!!” he cried). Nilmar looked excited to share his story about the crying children at his official presentation (“Eu queria chorar também..”) Well, they didn’t exactly say any of those things but imagination is key, amigas!

According to our friends, the view of the city from the Radisson hotel is “beautiful” and the sunset happens at exactly 9:30pm every night. Awww, how romantic. Robinho and co’ can certainly toast to that! Training will take place in the afternoon later today. Enjoy the photos…

The seleção defeated Paraguay 2-1 at the Arruda Stadium yesterday and Nilmar scored!!!!! Ok, excuse our outburst but we had been waiting to see this mano do well at international level and he finally did yesterday. Dopey decided to start him alongside Robinho and the look on his face after scoring was pure delirium.

Even Luis Fabiano – who didn’t play – was impressed with the results. “Nilmar came and finished the job,” he said after the game.

There was a little bit of pressure in the first half as Paraguay opened the scoring via a Salvador Cabanas strike. Fortunately for us, Robinho equalized in the 41st minute and Nilmar made it 2-1 in the second half, thanks to a Felipe Melo cross. Pato wasted a great opportunity in the 74th min but was too busy thinking about his wedding dinner and missed instead.

“I want to dedicate this victory to the followers in the (stadium) for the love and support they showed in the more difficult moments of the match,” said Kaka, after the game.

Anyway, Lucio was excited to arrive back at the hotel after the game. “At the entrance of the hotel, the people (there) applauded for the Brazilian national team without stopping. It was so spontaneous,” he said.

Photos : AFP, R.Ribeiro

Dunga has revealed why he chose to exclude The Dinho from the selection that will compete in South Africa.

“He has a player with quality. I trust him – he’s a different athlete. He is going through a bad time but I hope he can overcome that. Seeing a player like Ronaldinho on the bench is not good. We want to see the Ronaldinho that we all know. But he will have to show something (at Milan) if he wants to be named.”

That’s true, Ronaldinho or not, we all know no one has a permanent place in the national team. Be prepared to work very hard or don’t bother….The Dinho chose the latter and is paying the price.

In addition, Nilmar, Kleber, Colorado, and Andre Santos will not be released for their Copa Brasil games against Coritiba and Vasco on June 3. The selecao will officially meet on June 1 2009.