2012 Olympic Soccer Team Thread

Daniel96 -- Renamed this thread and it will just be a general Olympic discussion thread for Brazil. A good topic to have, but I feel we should limit the clutter on the front page.

As there will probably be more Olympic topics to come, let's try to keep all the discussion in this thread.

 

i have a feeling that our right and left backs will be U23. bottom line is that brazil needs to test out a suitable reserve and there are still many question marks there. we're going with guys like Fabio/Rafael and the players from the U20 team.

 

i reckon ademilson is the better player right now. probably why sao paulo are so eager to offload the petulant henrique.

 

having watched both tournaments -- wasnt very impressed with henrique overall. he was not the best player for brazil and only won the best player award because FIFA is stupid and likes giving it to goal scorers. i was much more impressed with ademilson at the U17 cup. and he's a reserve now for sao paulo's senior team.

henrique, in my opinion, is a rather limited forward. he just doesnt seem to do anything extremely well - his positioning is good and that's how he gets his goals. nothing really wrong with that, but he strikes me as a forward who cant really create anything for himself.

ademilson, on the other hand, can. and he is a phenomenal shooter from outside the box. honestly, ronaldo and adriano qualities. i was really really impressed with him at the U17.

here's an example. the goalie shouldve made the stop, but it was still a very nice, well-placed shot. the second goal was a perfect pass from ademilson to wallace. and then ademilson again from outside the box for the 3rd goal.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gpPXHPSx80"]Brasil 3x0 Dinamarca - Gols - Campeonato Mundial sub 17 (México 2011) - YouTube[/ame]

here's ademilson scoring a hat trick in last month's Copinha. he just has a phenomenal technique all around. he can place his shots. and not all forwards are capable of doing this.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0IPvgJtnBg"]São Paulo 10 X 0 Palmas-TO - Gols Copinha 2012 - YouTube[/ame]

he scored the first goal. 2nd goal at 4:55 (it was a poacher's goal). 3rd at 5:47 (a nice header off a corner).

although i think it will take a miracle for him to make it to the olympic team. but he will be 20 in 2014 and if he's playing well enough and brazil doesnt miraculously find some more guys after Damiao and Pato, I think he stands a decent chance.

 

brazil's depth at midfield is huge. mano, unfortunately, doesnt have a clue right now how to make it work though. guys like coutinho, oscar, ganso, douglas costa, willian, are all fighting for like one or two spots.

we have no goalscoring #9 depth. that's why i value an 18 year old player like ademilson. brazil right now only has damiao, and hulk, although hulk wouldnt be used as a center forward. pato, unfortunately, is too injury prone. i mean, we are using kleber and borges right now. the situation isnt good.

willian jose was a big let down in the U20, but he's started off the Paulista playing well. there's a reason why sao paulo has him and ademilson as their forwards and has chosen to pass on henrique. i wasnt super enamored with willian jose for the U20 team, but from the highlights of his past 2 games for sao paulo, he's looked good. he particularly has a nice first touch and has good finishing ability. and he has good speed. i dont know if he can pass or is capable of placing shots from long range though. ademilson i know has all of these characteristics.

i think willian jose will be on the U23 team because he is starting for sao paulo and is getting the playing time needed for mano to properly evaluate him. for ademilson to have a chance, he would also need to be playing a lot of minutes, and he isnt right now. but ironically enough, he still has a remote chance in 2014 because he has 2 brasileirao seasons ahead of him. his chances for the rio olympics are excellent though.

 

problem is that Mano doesnt really have much of a choice on who exactly he can bring up, especially when it comes to overage players at the olympics. it's not a FIFA tournament so the teams arent required to liberate their players.

as Thiago Silva's value is at an all-time high, and the likelihood of him going to Barcelona is quite high, I just cant see him being on the team. Milan simply wouldnt allow it - to protect their investment. and oddly enough, i can see a player like David Luiz having a chance because his value has taken a hit, not to mention the fact that the Olympics are right in Chelsea's backyard. So, it's not really that much of a stretch.

i think Dede will definitely be there, because he will probably be sold by the beginning of the European season. his value can only go up by starring in the olympics.

and Porto is going through some issues at the moment -- Hulk's value is likely dipping even, and I can see them trying to sell him. So an audition in the Olympics makes some sense. on the other hand, the forward position is quite uncertain, and as inconsistent as Hulk is, we know what we're getting. it's just as likely that Mano would rather test out other forwards -- ademilson, henrique, or william jose even.

I also have a feeling that Mano will likely call up "veteran" players who are based in Brazil, because the rules will be a bit more lax. And, he'd probably avoid decimating the teams who already have a good portion of U23 players -- Santos, Inter, SP, etc.