Rodrigo Possebon

CBF, the football federation of Brazil has demanded that Atletico Madrid striker Diego Costa be stripped of his Brazilian citizenship.

The 25 year old striker has caused a lot of controversy in the football world recently after snubbing the advances of his nation to play for his adopted country Spain. And the Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) has made it clear that it is their intention that the player be stripped of his citizenship of the country and they have also stated that they are aiming to start legal proceedings with both FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport to stop him playing for the world champions.

Costa has already played in two friendly matches for the five time world champions and the hosts of 2014 World Cup earlier in 2013 and now, he has snubbed the chance of playing under Luiz Felipe Scolari to represent Spain, who has jumped at the opportunity of securing the star striker’s services.

Carlos Lopes of the CBF has stated that it is quite obvious that the reason for making his choice was based on finances and he wants Brazil to take strong action against the player. He also added that the chairman of the CBF has authorized him to open a proceeding with the Justice Ministry of the country which will see the player lose his citizenship, something Costa has rejected.

Lopes also sent that he was put under immense pressure to make the decision. He talked about his love for Brazil in a letter sent to CBF and stated that he felt honored to play for the Canaries but that very year, he has decided to play for Spain and has been called up for two friendly matches.

Lopes has also stated that Scolari not try anymore to change the heart of the player.

Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva is aiming to get back his place in the Brazil side ahead of next summer FIFA World Cup on home soil.

The Liverpool star, who has endured a long spell on the sidelines due to several injuries over the last couple of years, is still hopeful of forcing his way back into the side ahead of the spectacle next summer. The Reds midfielder has not featured for the Canaries in the last two years, first being ruled out by an ACL injury and then again last season due to a thigh problem. He also missed the FIFA Confederations Cup on home soil that the Brazilian team won for the third successive time.

But the 26 year old still has hopes of breaking into the side, adding that he can bring to the Brazil what he does to the Liverpool team – providing an extra layer of protection for the defenders at the back as well as play balls to the attacking players. He mentioned that this has been his job at Liverpool and if he does it right, it could hand him a ticket to next summer’s World Cup. He mentioned that he played the same role under Mano Menezes, the former coach of the Brazilian national team who had given him a greater role in the side.

He also admitted that every match the team plays without him diminishes his chance of playing at the World Cup because there is not much time to adapt to the team’s style of play but he is not willing to give up just yet and there is still time for him to force his way through to the Brazil side once again and has vowed that he will work extra hard to realize his dream of playing the tournament.

The friendly match played between Brazil and England at Rio de Janeiro on Monday has ended in a draw. Both the teams scored two goals each in the match.

It was a cracker of a game. The standard of the performance of both the teams was quite high and the fans out there were thoroughly entertained.

The English manager Roy Hodgson made some changes in the starting XI that had featured against Republic of Ireland. Phil Jones, Leighton Baines and James Milner got starting opportunities in this game.
There were some speculations before the game that Theo Walcott might play upfront, but, that didn’t happen. Walcott again started at the right wing.

For Brazil, it was Neymar who started upfront along with Fred, Hulk and Oscar.

Brazil started aggressively and created a couple of opportunities in the first 10 minutes, but, the English defenders were alert on both the occasions and they didn’t let any damage being done.

Just a few minutes before the half time break, England also got a chance. A great pass from Glen Johnson went to Theo Walcott who was about 10 yards away from the penalty box. Walcott went past a couple of Brazilian defenders and played a flat shot towards the post, but, he couldn’t place the ball well. It went straight to Julio Cesar who stopped it with ease.

The first goal of the match was finally scored in the 12th minute of the second half. It was Brazil which took the lead courtesy of a fine goal from Fred. A long ball from Anderson bounced back after hitting the cross bar and Fred was quick to cash on that opportunity. He dabbed the ball home to take his team ahead.

However, the hosts lost their lead soon. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain with a superb strike in the 68th minute equalized the scores and brought England back into the match.

Wayne Rooney gave England a lead of 2-1 just a few minutes later. He beautifully deflected James Milner’s cross into the top corner of the net. Julio Cesar tried his best to make a save, but, it was out of his reach.

The hosts were under pressure after getting trailed by a goal, but, they didn’t panic at all. They stayed calm and managed to score the leveller in the 83rd minute. Paulinho was the one who did it for Brazil. Lucas Moura set up the goal with a wonderful cross and Paulinho finished it in an acrobatic style.

None of the two teams managed to find the net in the remaining time and the match was a draw.

The Brazilian football team has been defeated by England in a friendly match played at Wembley stadium on Wednesday. England won the match by 2-1. This was England’s first victory over Brazil since 1990.

The England players were in attacking mood right from the start. The first opportunity for England came in the 10th minute, but, it was a great save from Julio Cesar which prevented England from taking the lead. Wayne Rooney headed a corner towards the goal post, but, the QPR goalie showed great reflexes. He dived towards his left and made a brilliant save.

Brazil earned a penalty in the 18th minute and it was Ronaldinho who took the penalty. He whacked the ball powerfully, but, the English goalkeeper Joe Hart somehow managed to get his hand to the ball. Ronaldinho had another opportunity on the rebound, but, Hart again reacted brilliantly and stopped the ball.

Finally, it was England which took the lead in the 26th minute with the goal of Wayne Rooney. The Manchester United striker scored on the rebound. Walcott’s shot was saved by Cesar, but, the ball fell in the path of Rooney who tapped the ball into the post to give England the lead.

At the half time break, England was leading by 1-0, but, Brazil managed to equalize the scores pretty early in the second half with the help of Fred’s goal. It was a brilliant strike by the Fluminese forward. He played a brutal shot from a distance of 20 yards and Hart had no chance.

England again took the lead in the 60th minute. This time it was Frank Lampard who found the net for the hosts. The Chelsea midfielder got a great pass from Rooney and he didn’t let that opportunity go begging. He sent the ball into the net with a volley and took his side ahead again.

The Brazilian team wasn’t able to score the equalizer again and ended up losing the match.

An all star Brazil team will play an exhibition match against a local XI in Yangon. A few of the former players of Brazil including Roberto Carlos, Cafu and Bebeto will be a part of that all star Brazil team.

Bebeto was a part of the world cup winning team of Brazil in 1994, while, Carlos was a member of the world Champion Brazilian team in 2002. Cafu was a part of both those squads. These three players will reach Yangon on 20th of January.
Apart from these three, some other veteran Brazilian players are also expected to take part in the match, but, their names haven’t yet been revealed by the Myanmar Football Federation.

One of the officials of Myanmar Football Federation, Soe Moe Kyaw said, “We have contacted a lot of former Brazilian players and quite a few of them have agreed to take a part in the match. Cafu, Bebeto and Carlos are the three big names who are coming here. We are in touch with the others as well and hopefully, we would be able to bring some more great players here in Yangon to play in that match.”

“All we want is to organize a top quality football match for the people of Myanmar and it can happen only if great players will come here and participate in that match.”

“The list of the players and the date of the match isn’t finalized yet. We will give it the finishing touch next week.”
The Myanmar football team was once considered as one of the strongest teams in the world. But, after 1970, the performance of the team deteriorated and the game of football gradually became less popular in Myanmar. So, this exhibition match is an effort to boost the popularity of football in the country.

Luiz Felipe Scolari has been appointed as the coach of the Brazilian national football team. The president of Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), Jose Maria Marin, announced the appointment of Scolari in a press conference earlier today. This would be Scolari’s second tenure as Brazil’s coach.

Scolari had coached Brazil for 16 months in 2001-02 and had done a fabulous job. Under his guidance, Brazil had won the world Cup in 2002. But, after that, Scolari had resigned from his post and then, after one year, he had taken over as the coach of the Portugal national team.

Carlos Alberto Parreira has been appointed as the technical assistant of Scolari. Parreira was the manager of Brazil in the 1994 World Cup.

Announcing the appointment of Scolari, Marin said, “We desperately want the Brazilian team to become the World Champions again and that’s why, we have decided to give the management of the team in the hands of two Champions who have earned respect not only in Brazil, but, all over the world. The names of those two gentlemen are Luiz Felipe Scolari and Carlos Alberto Parreira. They have done amazingly well for us in the past and hopefully, they would do well for us in the future as well.”

Scolari was also present in the press conference. When he was asked how he is feeling after being appointed as the coach of the national team of his country for the second time, Scolari said, “It’s a great feeling. I am delighted to have got this opportunity again. I have had success during my first tenure and I hope that I would be able to do the same during this tenure as well. I would like to thank the chairman of CBF for showing faith in me.”

The Brazilian national team manager Mano Menezes has said that his team should rise up to the level of the Spanish national team. He has described that the Spanish national team is currently a cut above the rest of the football nations in the world. After winning the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the two European Championships in the last six years, it is easy to see the reason for Spain being voted as the best football nation in the world by the Brazilian manager. Brazil used to dominate world football in exactly the same situation.

However, the nation has certainly fallen behind its high standards in recent years and Mano Menezes is looking to revive the form of the nation once again. Brazil will be holding the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which gives them a great opportunity to lift the sixth title because it will be on home soil. However, the Brazilian national team manager reckons that they still have a long way to go before being considered as a better team than Spain, who are the undoubted favourites to win the World Cup this time around as well. Brazil recently managed a 6-0 win over Iraq in a friendly match.

“Today, we are not at the level of Spain. To this day, nobody has been able to maintain their style against Spain. I think they are one of the best, alongside Brazil 1970. The best are those that do something different from others, and Spain have, three times. We are in a race against time to make a team that can compete at the highest level, but I’m optimistic because I think we’re improving on target,” said the Brazilian manager, who decided to bring in the Real Madrid midfielder Kaka after an absence of two years from the Brazilian national team.

The former AC Milan striker Ronaldinho scored one of the goals of the season for his club Atletico Mineiro, which helped them grow the match 2-2 with Cruzeiro. The former AC Milan and Barcelona forward Ronaldinho has become the major talk in Brazil after he has been rejuvenated following his move to Atletico Mineiro. Since his arrival at the club, Atletico Mineiro have been undefeated in the league, while they have also been steadily climbing of the table. It will certainly not be surprising to see Atletico Mineiro lift the title this season mainly due to the brilliance of Ronaldinho.

Cruzeiro took the lead in the match through Wallyson in the 17th minute. It looked like Atletico Mineiro were heading for their first defeat since the arrival of Ronaldinho to the club, but Leonardo Silva equalised in the injury time of the first half to put things level after the break. Ronaldinho then scored a stunning goal on the final minute of the match to put Atletico Mineiro ahead of the match. However, they were unable to hold the lead for much longer after Matthew scored with only few minutes remaining on the clock in the injury time.

The match was barred by a number of issues including red cards to various players. As a result of the clash between the fans, only the home team fans were allowed to watch the match. However, these measures had little effect on the pitch because there was lot of trouble between the two sets of supporters. There was a lot of debris on the pitch and it took a solo effort from Ronaldinho to silence the crowd. The former Barcelona superstar is looking to get back into the national team to participate in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which could be his last major appearance.

The former Manchester United midfielder Rodrigo Possebon has completed his move to Criciúma after failing to impress during his one season with Vicenza Calcio. The 23-year-old defensive midfielder was regarded as one of the best young talent in the world in his position.

This led to the move to one of the biggest clubs in the world – Manchester United a few seasons ago. However, a very bad tackle he suffered while playing for Manchester United in 2009 left a bad mark on his career. He has been unable to recover from the injury since then. He has returned to his native country Brazil after failing to break through the first-team at Manchester United.

He initially made the Brazilian club Santos where he spent one season after making 31 appearances. However, the club decided not to extend his contract due to the number of injury concerns he experienced during the season. Following the end of the spell with Santos, Rodrigo Possebon moved to Italian club Vicenza Calcio. However, after having spent one season with the club during which he had made no appearances for the first team, Rodrigo Possebon has decided to return to his home continent. He has now signed for Brazilian club Criciúma Esporte Clube.

“I think it will (get away from the selection). It is difficult to act in a selection and be playing in Europe, especially Italy. Quite complicated I think back to the selection, but you know football, things change from day to night. “The curriculum does not mean much. In football we have to be proving every day, you can not rely very much. You have to kill a lion a day even with a nice resume. I need some days to get into my best shape, even for what I can only act after the window opens, but with work these days I’ll be fine physically,” said Possebon.

Gerard Pique has rubbished reports that he and Barcelona’s outgoing coach, Pep Guardiola do not see eye to eye.
“I have never had a problem with Guardiola and we have always said things face to face when we had to” said Pique in response to rumours suggesting he was happy to see Barca’s most successful ever coach leaving the club.
Guardiola has led Barca to three La Liga crowns, a Copa del Rey and two Champions Leagues in his four year spell at the Catalan giants. Pique has become a key part of Guardiola’s team since joining from Manchester United at the same time as the coach was appointed in 2008.

Recent reports that the two have always had a frosty relationship have been dismissed by the defender, who praised Guardiola’s contribution over the last four years.

Pique described the way things work “at big clubs” as explaining why Guardiola is leaving. “At a big club like this, you know you are just passing through, but I want to stay here for many years.” “If Guardiola is not staying it is because there is something that made him realise that it was time to go.”

Pique was also keen to praise Tot Vilanova who will replace Guardiola next season. Vilanova has been Guardiola’s assistant but will now step up to the top job next year and the move was, according to Pique, welcomed amongst the Barca squad.

“Inside the dressing room we were not surprised that Tito Vilanova will be the new coach”. Barca, and Pique will be looking to end the Guardiola era on a high with victory in the Copa Del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao on Friday night. Win or Lose though, Guardiola will be remembered as a Barcelona legend and Vilanova will have quite an act to follow. The backing of the likes of Pique will be essential.