Brazil’s recent line-up in their CONMEBOL World Cup qualification clash against Venezuela included no fewer than eight of the starting eleven currently plying their trade in the top European leagues.
Miranda is enjoying joint second place with his side Inter Milan in Serie A after being nominated as Whoscored.com’s man of the match in their 1-1 draw with Palermo at the weekend, having earned a rating of 7.70 including 8 tackles.
Marquinhos is among five Brazilians in French Ligue 1’s Paris St Germain squad along with fellow countrymen Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Maxwell and Lucas Moura. PSG currently hold a four-point cushion at the top of the French top tier and are joint top of Group A in the Champions League with Real Madrid.
Dani Alves (Barcelona) and Filipe Luis (Atletico Madrid) are also in teams that are topping Groups E and C respectively in the Champions League while their respective domestic league positions are third and fourth respectively.
Midfielder Douglas Costa has played nine out of Bayern Munich’s ten Bundesliga matches so far this season with 1 goal to his name and has been Bayern’s main creative source to date providing 6 assists so far.
Chelsea duo Willian and Oscar however haven’t enjoyed the best of starts to their domestic season in the Premier League as The Blues currently sit in a very disappointing 15th place, although Willian has scored 2 goals to date in the EPL. Meanwhile, fellow countryman Ramires has been overlooked by Dunga in his 23-man squad.
Midfielder Luiz Gustavo is part of a Wolfsburg outfit who sit fourth in the German Bundesliga and top Group B which consists of the likes of Manchester United, CSKA Moscow and PSV Eindhoven.
Neymar (Barcelona) is the other key player for Brazil based in Europe and is no doubt their highest profile player with most of the nation’s pressures on his shoulders.
This was evident in the 2014 World Cup where Neymar notched 4 goals during the group stages and at times carried the team to unconvincing wins, but once he became injured Brazil imploded in dramatic fashion.
Another glaring omission was Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho who was also overlooked by Dunga who seems to be placing more emphasis on defensive qualities than the attacking flair of Coutinho and Ramires, and this could come back and bite them later on.
Given the wealth of Brazil’s european experience at the highest club level with a number of players playing in extremely successful teams (with the exception of Willian and Oscar for Chelsea this season to date!), then how were they dismantled in such dramatic fashion by firstly Germany 7-1 in the World Cup semi-final and then 3-0 to Netherlands in the third place play-off?
Oh, and Brazilian defender David Luiz should not be allowed anywhere near Dunga’s defence as his concentration levels in crucial periods during any given match are, quite honestly, woeful.
Brazil overall seem to be a team full of stars in their own right, but the team cohesion is nowhere near the same level as, say Germany, who exclusively glean their talent from European teams alone along with 4 players each from Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund as well as 3 players from Bayer Leverkusen. That’s 11 of the 23-man squad, or almost 50% if you prefer, of players that are already familiar with the playing styles of their peers.
As for Brazil’s chances of qualifying for the next World Cup in Russia 2018, their passage is no longer guaranteed and this became evident in a recent 2-0 defeat to Chile. The rapid progress of Uruguay, Chile and Ecuador may test the former world masters to the limit, and that’s just to qualify.
