Fútbolita

THE DEAL IS DONE. Milan have officially transformed into Brasil FC (now where is Ibracadabra going to fit in?) and all they need now is for Kaka to return and complete the rest of the picture! For our own reasons (he-he), he’d better stay at Real for at least one more season.

“AC Milan communicates it has acquired the player Robinho, outright from Manchester City. The Brazilian has signed a contract with the Rossoneri club for four years,” read a statement which was undoubtedly written by Berlusconi’s annoyed secretary.

Right now, you know that the zany producers of “Chiambretti Night” are also probably scrambling to get Robinho on the show. It’d be the best welcome gift ever!

via AP

Now that he has found true happiness at Manchester City, your friend Robinho thinks he can go and snub Andre Santos at Fenerbahçe in the midst of all this transfer talk. Geez!

“With all due respect to Turkish football, I’m not going to play there right now. The team (Fenerbahçe) was the one who sent me an official proposal, but I’ve already decided that I will not (move there)” said Robinho, who has also been sought out by Besiktas.

Apparently, he wants to leave Manchester for better shores and this means he will continue in Europe, “Italy or Spain.” Oh well, as long as cara has his tambourine and drums for a ‘pagode’ show, everything will be fine…

via EGO

What a great day for Neymar! It was his debut for the selecao, and he delivered as promised to the people of Brasil! Hedgehog hairdo scored in a fitting 2-0 victory against the United States. E claro, the other goal was courtesy of Pato whom many of you have missed watching for Brasil. E hora de comemora because it’s a new squad, and we definitely like the style that was on display last night. Fast, free, flowing football that was demonstrated by three attackers – Ganso, Robinho and Neymar – who are Santos’ bros!

In addition, it was also a great start for Manoooo, whom we all know will be facing pressure in the lead up to 2014. He’s already declared that his priority is to make Brasil a more offensive team, which means we won’t be seeing much of Dopey’s ultra-defensive techniques and more exciting stuff from all these caras. And as for Neymar, he knows he’s got it… just take a look at his pose below. Work it!

“The performance was the result of the technical quality of the players. It was facilitated by the (fielding) of three players who work together at Santos. What we did in the two training sessions, mainly on Sunday, was to give a tactical organization, in terms of positioning, which enabled the technical quality to excel,” said Mano after the game.

Parabéns meninos!

via Terra, Gettyimages

BEM-VINDO to the Selecao Bootcamp, and as we always say, it’s a “tradition of Futbolita’s!” The guys have arrived in Jersey Shore (fist pump!) to train for the friendly against the United States scheduled for tomorrow. Mano Menezes wasted no time and made sure everyone HEARD what he had to say, which obviously meant no late nights and focus, focus, focus!

As always, manos divided themselves into two groups and got to work immediately. This time, there was no gym conditioning (oh damn) and everybody took to the field. Victor, Daniel Alves, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, André Santos, Lucas, Ramires, Ganso and Robinho were in the grey shirts while Henrique, Rever, Marcelo, Ederson,  Neymar, André and Tardelli played with orange vests. And for those of you who were wondering about Rafael Fetus Da Silva, he’s now recovering from food poisoning, so he was unable to answer the call-up.  Que pena!

Anyway, here’s David Luiz getting all brotherly with the trio of Neymar, André and Ganso. They’re all the faces of 2014, so he’d better pick his side soon before it gets too late!

Fotos de R.Ribeiro

Robinho may have been on holiday in South Africa, but he’d better be worried because Neymar is ready to rock the house! Santos emerged winners of the Copa do Brasil last night, despite losing 2-1 to Victoria, simply because they already won the first leg of the match. Muito legal, indeed and Neymar decided to celebrate by wearing a shirt with a message dedicated to his family (“pai, mãe, irmã e amigos após a partida”) and climbed over barricades to celebrate with the fans which was splendid.

Edu Dracena opening the scoring for Santos, but even though Vitoria turned the heat up with goals from Wallace and Júnior, they managed to contain their opponents and duly celebrated in estilo Brasileiro.

Oh, look what we have here! It’s IkerBonero getting it on again in Los Angeles. Wait, isn’t he supposed to be IN preseason training doing drills or something, with the goalkeeping coach?!! That’s right, this is a pretty “old” photo, but it was still worth posting anyway. All you lucky folks from LA probably already witnessed the Pied Piper of Higuain’s double against Club America last night.

Oh dude, es temprano, pero que está listo! (it’s early, but you’re ready). Keep it coming, yeah?

Last season, all eyes were on Antonio Valencia (who quite frankly, hasn’t lived up to his billing). This season, the United aficionados will be screaming Chicharito’s name like he’s the new Jalapeño mixed drink! So of course, tipo will be feeling a tad bit of pressure when the BPL kicks off and your nine million neighbours start unveiling their AON plastered jerseys with their names personalised.

Whatever the case, Chicharito will not tolerate any hatin’ this season because he’s in the fetus clique with the likes of the Da Silva brothers and they all can throw a mean punch when Berbatov walks past. DO NOT MESS!

And as for his teammate, Anderson, we feel truly sorry for him after learning about the car crash, but this is certainly not going to help his career.

via Reuters, AFP, Terra, Hola

And now it’s time for our hardest challenge in this World Cup. It’s time for Robinho, Luís Fabiano and Kaká to face Snejder, Van Persie and Robben. Everybody is getting nervous with the possibility of going home. In the streets, the talking today was “What is going to happen tomorrow?” Though everybody here has something like faith in our squad, I saw a different look in people’s faces. Like a challenge has finally come. A very beautiful match appears to be arriving, and very balanced too.

Today Mr. Johan Cruyff said to the journalists that would never pay to watch this Brazilian Squad play. A very hard pronouncement to what Dunga responded in a ver elegant way. “He might have won a free ticket from FIFA.” Finally a humorous answer from our coach. I liked it, didn’t you?

Felipe Melo seems to be ok, but is still a doubt (Photo: Zimbio)

Let’s talk about our players for tomorrow. Elano is out. Felipe Melo is still a doubt Josué might play in  Melo’s position if he doesn’t feel alright. Ramires (suspended), lost a great chance to show his game. A shame, but there’s nothing to do for him for tomorrow’s game. Our guys must be: Julio Cesar, Maicon, Lúcio, Juan, Michel Bastos, Gilberto Silva, Felipe Melo or Josué, Daniel Alves, Kaká, Robinho and o FABULOSO.

Lúcio, our captain, is doing a very good job in this Cup. He is making the team unite on the field. Although he is a defender we can see him every time in the most important moves during the matches. He is showing himself as a complete player. A very important piece in our squad.

I’m here with all my positive thoughts with 190 million brazilians expecting A SELEÇÃO to bring us the Hexa!!!!

Signing off,

Your anxious Brazil Futbolita

BEM VINDO to the Matchday edition of Seleção Bootcamp! Don’t you love it that everybody has their headphones on in the morning? What could fofo Nilmar possibly be listening to? Lady Gaga? Meu Deus, we bet it’s Bebel Gilberto…. or Sergio Mendes! In the last two days, the guys have been training at 4:30pm everyday and attending the compulsory press conferences. At every World Cup, teams have to follow a specific FIFA protocol, and it’s no different with the selecao. Everybody has to face the press and if you’re lucky, you get the jokers Luisao or even Julio Cesar, as he proved other day. Or if you want to throw daggers at someone, Felipe Melo will be the man for you – but he won’t take it lightly!

Anyway, caras face off against Portugal today and we feel like we’ve been waiting for this one since FOREVER. Listen Greaseano, please play nice today ou eu vou mandar uma garrafa de GASOLINA para a sua casa em Madrid. Your stepovers can be nice to watch, but today, you won’t be the only one doing it because Robinho is IN THE HOUSE. Forcaaaaaa and BEIJOS to you from the squad….!

via AFP, R.Ribeiro

OK pessoas, if you were wondering about Seleção Bootcamp, it will be back at full force this weekend. Fútbolita has been trying to find the right percussion instruments to play at the Fairway Hotel and Nilmar approves, so watch out for it!

Meanwhile, while you pretend to read about the Korean war, Robinho has admitted that he “forgot to shave” during the match against North Korea last night. He probably should have – Maicon did and it worked! Sure, the score was “only” 2-1 against the North Koreans but este é o jeito brasileiro!!

“I even forgot to shave,” admitted Robinho. “Ugly face (but) nice football, God willing!”

Here’s a video of the Portuguese squad and Greaseano stripping ‘preparing’ for battle – presumably against that stalemate of a game you and your uncle had to watch the other day. Listen, the World Cup is NOT boring and if anybody says that to you, just hand them a packet of ice and tell them that Juande Ramos is waiting to tell them fairytales. Geez, it’s only the first game! You know Rui Costa is rolling his eyes as we speak!

Within the next week, Futbolita will reveal our list of exclusive World Cup player interviews and yes, Nilmar happens to be one of the sexy jogadores! For the record, we can confirm that he is THE coolest nerd in seleção bootcamp, so desculpe Kaka, but you have officially lost that title to your friend from Paraná!

Anyway, here he is in full-on geek mode in one of Nike’s unique seleção pre-Copa del Mundo videos featuring the enthusiastic Robinho and straight-talking Fabuloso. You can also catch glimpses of nossos meninos training. Of course, they’ll be playing Zimbabwe in a friendly later today, so this is your preview!

Happy Friday… aka the best day of the week! Our favourite journo from CQC, Felipe Andreoli, seems to be missing in action these days so all the spotlight has been going to Rafael Cortez and his footballer interviews. Here he is quizzing Robinho about everything from the selecao to choosing between United and Santos and even the way he pronounces his name with a “Rrrrrobinho”. Speaking of which, the whole CQC crew had better be heading to South Africa, or Brazilian TV will die of boredom!

Also, the other video that is sure to get everyone amused is this Crackovia parody of MouMou, winning the Champs League and getting into a little kerfuffle with Moratti. Look out for the song and dance number towards the end of the clip. It’s what legends are made of!

The seleção have checked into their temporary boot camp in Curitiba (poooor fin!) and have taken their medical tests (courtesy of the Atlético Paranaense team!) Poor Nilmar seems afraid of needles while Fabuloso and Elano struggled to be brave men. They boys are also doing muscular exercises daily under the watchful eyes of Senhor Paulo Paixão and Fábio Mahseredjian. Oh Mio dios, those two instructors are not to be messed with.

Unfortunately, Kaka and Fabulouso sat out training but they’ll be back soon. Read more to see a MEGA GALLERY.. and yes, Luisao’s pained expression below wants you to go check it out!

Photos for Futbolita via R.Ribeiro
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Bom dia! It’s officially 24 days to the World Cup and we’re thrilled to tell you that our futbolitas from various parts of the world are getting ready to go muy alocado! And in this interesting shop in South Africa, wooden puppets of players called ‘Soccer Men’ are being sold to fans! We can’t really tell who’s who in that photo above but you can bet that the middle dude is probably Robinho.

Anyway, if you’re heading to South Africa and you’d like to bring one of these home (or along with you on one of those Sunday strolls), be prepared to fork out at least $76.

Oh verdammt! What are we to do? Ballackwurst has been officially ruled out of the World Cup, which is a huge blow to Die Mannschaft. As captain, he must be pretty sad to be left out.. although this reminds us of the 2002 Japan/South Korea Final match against Brazil, which he had to sit out as well.

“After the diagnosis of national team doctor Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt today, a complete healing of the injury is expected. Ballack’s return to training is possible at the earliest in eight weeks,” announced the German Football federation.

Announced Joachim Low : “The good news is that nothing is broken. But he has a lot of pain and is restricted in his movement. We need clarity but we obviously hope the injury proves to be nothing serious. Michael is our captain and one of our leading players.”

Here’s an interesting portrait photo of Gigi Buffon, painted by Elliot Quince, who is a “football mad illustrator”. Sure, Gigi’s beady eyes look like jelly beans but we love it all the same. Elliot has hand-painted 32 portraits for the Copa del Mundo in aid of a hospital in London which cared for his daughter last May. To see more of the Got Got Got Need campaign and to find out more about his exhibition taking place next month, click here!

via Reuters, Globoesporte, Got Got Got Need & Fifa

Well, the title speaks for itself! Here’s Neymar, Robinho and Ganso (aka the Santos trio) doing it Beyonce style for Seara, a Brazilian company who are also the official meat suppliers for the selecao. They could have worked more on the choreography.. but at least Neymar looks like he’s having loads of fun!

(muito obrigada Raio Gomes!)

Bom dia gente… and Happy Friday! Nilmaaaar, você olha fofo hoje (you are looking cute today). Anyway, this is a new series of ads by Nike conceptualized to help you ease into the World Cup mood. It’s called the “Pelada“, which is the journey of the selecao caras as they experience the ‘maximum velocity’ training program. Greaseano did the same thing too, which you can watch here (ever so dramatic!)… but in the meantime, Robinho, Fabulouso & fofo Nilmar would like you to listen to them below, por favor!

Quão brilhante! These fans turned up at full force to watch Brasil play Ireland in London yesterday… and if this isn’t hardcore (ok, that title belongs to the River and Boca fans), then we’re not quite sure what is!

As expected, manos defeated Ireland 2-0 and the goals were thanks to Robinho (although it was deflected and considered an own goal! Poor Keith Andrews, time for some chicken broth, love). As you can tell, tipos were clamoring over themselves to do well as the Copa del Mundo approaches. Adriano also started alongside his amigo in Santos and of course…. fofo Nilmaaaaar himself came in as a replacement for the goalscorer himself later in the game.

This edition of the Selecao Bootcamp was a relatively short one as the guys make their way back to their clubs to play in the domestic leagues. We look forward to more jacuzzi stretching exercises in próximos jogos!

via R.Ribeiro, Globo, AFP

Haven’t we all seen this from Robinho before? The jersey kissing and outraged facial expressions? Only this time it’d better be for a good cause because Dopey probably still considers him a favourite for SELECAO BOOTCAMP : South Africa!

“He fulfilled what he promised and I was happy with his performance. Robinho decided the game. I think (by Robinho being on the field) it just gets better for the Saints. With the three of us playing together  (Neymar, Robinho and Paulo Henrique), we hope to give joy to supporters,” declared Neymar aka Santos’s Fetus Extraordinaire after their 2-1 win over Sao Paulo in the Paulista Championship over the weekend. Sim, estamos tristes….

What a safe statement, Neymar. Everyone knows that upon his arrival, Robinho was treated like Sultan and fed a bowl of Premium Turkish delights. King Pele personally saw that all this was taken care of… that’s how it really works!

via UOL Brasil

Drop your sewing machines NOW because Saint Robinho has arrived back at Santos!!!! And amigas, his welcome home party was like a prelude to Carnaval itself – without the floats of course. As always, King Pele made his presence known to everyone at the Urbano Caldeira by breaking into one of his 2,134 speeches. Then, Robinho and himself gazed into one another’s eyes and they ran through the field with their arms interlocked. We’re not kidding! Sthefany Brito called and she wants them to be in her next soap opera called Páginas do Futebolista Falha.

On a serious note, Robster sobbed to journalist about his time at Madrid. Yeah yeah, we know he was mistreated, left out of Raul’s numerous tea-parties and basically, benched like there was no tomorrow. Você é tão CHATO, cara! (you’re so boring, dude).

“I went the wrong way from Real Madrid. I know that the fans will never understand. But it was the only time. My departure from City was on friendly terms. We talked and they released me. There was no controversy,” he said.

via AP/Reuters

Não mais … não mais! You know you’ve had enough of all this Robinho talk (he was so Wednesday). All of us moved quickly from Adrian SibutraMutu to John Terry over the course of the week but the question remains – who gets to keep Robinho’s Lamborghini at Manchester City when he leaves? Will it be Sylvinho or that random dude next to him in the video below?

In another bizarre message to his fans… don’t sweat it, Santos futbolitas. Robinho can’t wait to see you either so lembre-se, recebê-lo em biquínis!

Zizou and amigos played out to a nice 3-3 draw in last night’s “Match of the Stars” to help Haiti. And don’t you agree that it’s tres bien to see Rui Costa, Luis Figo and Edgar David’s Mask on the field again?! Daaaamn, feels like old times. Anyway forty international football stars from across the world joined UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) to play that match against Benfica All Stars. This is the match which Kaka played on behalf of Greaseano cuz’ their Bromance is going out of hand and bros don’t let bros down. Anyway, once again it’s amazing how futbol has transcended all boundaries and reached out to those in need!

“By coming to the stadium people have done a great thing. I am very happy we can do something to help,” said Zizou. Added Louis Van Gaal, who was in charge of the All-Star squad : “This is a very good cause, that’s why there are so many players here. Football is with the people of Haiti.”

van Nistelrooy has switched sides from Madrid to Hamburg (a pity, since we hear he’s one of our dear amiga’s favourite interviewees!) .Granted, he did look a little zoned out at his own presentation but it was all done for the Oranje.

There’s a lot riding on Nistelrooy’s quest to join the national team and only first-team football will give him that chance, seeing that Madrid are very content with Higuain and Benzema. He will remain at Hamburg until his contract ends in 2011. And as the Dutch say… veel succes!

Do not fear, Robinho is not pulling a R.Carlos and getting married again. Instead of showing him looking all gloomy on the bench, we decided that a smiling-and-spoilt Robinho would be the better option for your precious eyes.

Anyway, A Douche has declared that he wants to take a pay cut, return to Santos and play regular football again. He’s looking at a Beckham/Milan deal where Oil City continues to pay his wages while he parties at the Catwalk club in Rio. Ah cara, sei lá…! Sao Paulo better be ready for the return of Robinho and his entourage.

via AP, Globo