“Worldcup winners”
Nickname – A Selecao | World Cup Winners – 5x (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002) | Slogan to Brazil – Brace Yourselves! The Sixth Is Coming!
Brazil has won the World Cup a record of 5 times and they are coming into this years tournament as favourites to win, considering the fact that they have home advantage going for them. Furthermore, no European team has ever won the World Cup on South American soil so teams like Spain, Germany and Italy already have history against them. This is the second time Brazil will be hosting the World Cup and the painful memory of Uruguay winning it in 1950 on their home turf still lingers fresh so it is evident that Brazil are prepared to ensure that no repetition of ill fortune will occur this time out.
The current Brazilian team are not as superstar studded as the previous ones we have witnessed but ironically this team seem to be most efficiently compact to get the job done. They boast the services of Neymar, arguably one of the top three players in the world today, one who has made the seamless transition of being just a talent to becoming an established world class professional. They also have in their ranks Oscar, the one player who has graced us this season with some of the most amazing goals you will ever see and in defence they can be assured of the solidity of Tiago Silva who it takes a lot to get past.
Brazil’s World Cup Team List
Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar (Toronto FC), Jefferson (Botafogo), Victor (Atletico Mineiro)
Defenders: Marcelo (Real Madrid), Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Maicon (AS Roma), Maxwell, Thiago Silva (both Paris St Germain), David Luiz (Chelsea), Dante (Bayern Munich), Henrique (Napoli)
Midfielders: Paulinho (Tottenham Hotspur), Ramires, Willian, Oscar (all Chelsea), Hernanes (Inter Milan), Luiz Gustavo (VfL Wolfsburg), Fernandinho (Manchester City)
Forwards: Bernard (Shakhtar Donetsk), Neymar (Barcelona), Fred (Fluminense), Jo (Atletico Mineiro), Hulk (Zenit St Petersburg)
The fault that can be found in this team is that their golden ticket man ‘Neymar’ who is considered to be among the top three players in the world today, is probably the third behind Ronaldo and Messi and even that sequence is quite unfair on Luis Suarez. Nevertheless, the Brazilian squad know that anything short of winning the cup will be considered a failure and so the smart money is on them grabbing their sixth world cup title. To them the other teams are just coming to make up the numbers.
The countdown to Brazil 2014 continues with more posts coming up.
Feel free to leave your comment below, let me know what you think about Brazil picking up the trophy this world cup.
This article was written by Yemi Kuti