Proposed Experimental Lineup for the next three friendlies

Lucio is a good defender but, he will be 36 years old in 2014. I think it would be wise for Brazil find a replacement. Maybe, he will be around on the bench if he keeps in shape. Remember slow defenders can cause a lot penalties.

Dani Alves makes too many mistakes. Maicon is definitely a better defender and a better crosser. Therefore, Dani Alves has no place in the starting lineup.

Pato has more skills than Damiao but, he does not seem to have a killer instinct. Damiao deserves a chance because he has been a super form. Who needs all the flair up front when you have Neymar, Kaka and Hulk or Lucas Moura. The #9 striker needs to concentrate on scoring goals.

With respect to Lucas Moura, I know he is going to be very important for Brazil and I had him on the original list until a couple of people made a case for Hulk. Upon further analysis, I concluded that Hulk deserves to be in the starting lineup.

Damiao is a pure #9 stiker, and he is tall and has strength. but he has not got the speed or acceleration like Pato has, and like Ronaldo 9 did.
if he was fast then he will be a dangerous pure striker.
Damiao has the killer instinct like you said, but Pato and speed and skills. so they are both good. and thats why i would give them turns on the bench. but Damiao is like 22 years old, if he was that good do you think he will still be in Brazil? he would be in europe by now like Pato.

Damiao is fast enough even though Pato is faster. No one today is as fast pre-injury Ronaldo Fenomeno, not even Cristiano Ronaldo. If Neymar and Kaka or even Lucas Moura or Hulk will be creating plays for the #9 striker, all that striker needs to do is to score goals. Pato can't seem to remain healthy. Something happens to him every year and he misses at least a dozen games. I am not sure what the problem is. You can't build a team with an unreliable striker. He belongs on the bench right now. Maybe the true #9 has not surfaced yet but, just under 3 years left, he'd better surface soon. Right now, Damiao is in the driving seat. There are no Ronaldo Fenomenos out there. Brazil must innovate somewhere else. Hello Neymar! Hello Kaka! Hello Hulk! Hello Lucas Moura! Hello Ganso! Hello Marcelo! Who will answer this great challenge?

Damiao looks good, im going to see how he plays in the next few brazil games.
but do you reckon Theo Walcott is faster than Ronaldo 9 in his best years?

Theo Walcott is fast but, I don't think he is faster than pre-injury Ronaldo Fenomeno. I don't think people realize how fast Ronaldo was.

Here is a video that shows some glimpses of Cristiano Ronaldo vs Ronaldo Fenomeno's acceleration. Both guys are fast but, Ronaldo Fenomeno was just a beast!!!

Can't see the link to the video..........

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeIE4y_HEbI"]Ronaldo Vs Cristiano Ronaldo Part II - Speed - YouTube[/ame]

without the ball, Ronaldo was (less) fast (maybe lack of motivation) and had Carlos, Rommeldahl, Henry and maybe Walcott as competitors

With the ball at his feet, I had not seen any player as fast as him - bar Pele, Cruijff and Maradona!

You can't even compare Cristiano with Fenomeno. Just look at the ball control differences, Fenomeno has complete control of the ball at all time. He had so good control of the ball that he didn't even need to think about the ball, he just ran by everyone.

Cristiano is completely robotic and runs more like sprinter than a football player.

I don't there is anyone that can run so fast with the ball as Fenomeno did.

Ronaldo Fenomeno is in a league of his own. You are right in that there is no one out there today that can run as fast him with so much ball control. The closest person is probably Messi. However, let's give Cristiano Ronaldo some credit. He may have lost his touch a bit as a dribbler in recent years but, to me, Cristiano is up there in terms of speed and ball control. He may not have the ball control of Messi but, it is good enough and when you combine that with his speed, you have a nightmare for defenders.
Again, I agree that Ronaldo Fenomeno has no rivals in that department but, I would not characterize CR7 as robotic. He's a great athlete.

Well I didn't try to say that Cristiano is a bad player or has bad ball control or something like that. Only compared to Fenomeno and I don't even like Fenomeno very much.

Of course Cristiano is a great athlete, no one can argue about that. He is still very robotic though.

Anyway I think we are kind of off topic here.

Funny thing is he evolved to be one, young Cristiano had a better controll of the ball imo.. the English direct style of player with the sprints etc made its affect on his evolution as a player for better and for worst.

Robinho was horrible today..
He was the worst player on the pitch and got substituted in the half time.That substitution proved crucial..If he continues with these type of display he can warm the Milan bench for the rest of the season.

This is Robinho's second game back from injury. Cut the guy some slack. If we are going to criticize every player for having a bad game than we wont have a team come 2014.

I am also saying the same thing ...If a player deserves to be in the WC stating lineup just because he did a step over in the copa america final game in which the team lost, we will only have a team with 22 Denilsons.
The team selection criteria should be form,requirement of a particular player on a given position, effectiveness and team chemistry.

Is Dede from Vasco Da Gama good?
He is really tall and strong, So how do you think he is?

and does David Luiz have the potential to become the new Lucio?

From what I've seen Dede is not only tall and strong but, also quick and very athletic. He appears to have good judgement. David Luiz is just a very good offensive central defender but, his defense is suspect. He has to improve a lot. Brazil should be testing both him and Dede right now.

Folks, yesterday, I did some research on a defensive midfielder named Fernando Reges. I stumbled upon a headline that said that AC Milan is willing to pay over 30M euros for him and therefore, I wanted to find out a bit about him. He is 24 years old and currently plays in Portugal for Porto. That kid is talented. He is an awesome central midfielder. I hope he goes to AC Milan so he continue to hone his skills in a tougher and more prestigious league. Will he be wearing the #5 jersey in 2014?

He's good, but no. that's Sandro's spot.

Also seems like Mano likes his DM to be able to move the ball and pass/distribute well, and thats where Fernando is kind of a liability.

He's a quality midfielder though, surely above the ralfs etc we've seen getting a shot in the NT.

Sandro's spot? I have not seen Sandro start in any match for Brazil. He seems like a solid DM but, does not seem as mobile. Can he distribute the ball? So far, the best one at distributing the ball is Lucas Leiva even though he seems to be lacking in skills and appears not to be as strong. I'm only talking about the #5 position. The more offensive of the DMs is the one who usually wears #8 and I think Hernanes may do well there. As for the #5 jersey, Sandro and not Lucas Leiva will have a stronger presence there. What concerns me about Sandro is the fact that he is not as quick as I would like him to be. If you watch his matches for Tottenham, you'll see that he often gets there late for the challenge and ends up committing a foul. When playing against a quick team like Germany or Argentina, he may end up getting sent off. That is the reason that I am experimenting with Adriano (Barca) in my current starting lineup.

I would like to see Wellington Nem & Elkeson be given shots in the starting XI, if your building for the future then why not...