Luiz Felipe Scolari has named the team to face Panama in Goiânia on Tuesday, reports Lance!Net.
Scolari confirmed that Chelsea’s Ramires will replace Paulinho, as the Tottenham player is carrying a slight ankle injury picked up in training.
The friendly with Panama was arranged so that Brazil could prepare for their World Cup match with Mexico.
Scolari said: “The team that plays is what started today [in training]. We chose Panama because they play similarly to Mexico. It"s a game going in to the details and any ideas or similar situations with Mexico. For this [reason] we also picked Serbia to give [us an] idea of how to play Croatia."
Scolari said that he decided to rest Paulinho this week but his injury is not so serious that it would have kept him out of competitive action.
“If the World Cup game was today, yesterday or the day before, he [Paulinho] would play," said Scolari.
Paulinho, Thiago Silva and Fernandinho did not travel with the team but stayed in Teresópolis to do fitness work. They will travel to São Paulo for the game against Serbia on Friday.
The Brazil team to face Panama: Julio Cesar, Daniel Alves, David Luiz, Dante, Marcelo, Gustavo Luiz, Ramires, Oscar, Hulk, Neymar and Fred.
