Wednesday, February 10, 2010
ROBINHO is set for a quick return to England, after the recently departed Manchester City striker was named in the Brazil squad for next month’s friendly against Ireland in London.
However, despite a clamour for his recall from, among others, Brazilian icon Pele, there is no place for Ronaldinho, raising serious doubts about the player’s chances of being selected for the squad which will travel to the World Cup finals in June.
By contrast Robinho, who left English football under a cloud, made a headline-grabbing return on his loan move back to home soil when he scored the winning goal in a 2-1 Santos win against arch rivals Sao Paulo and, despite his problems at City, he has been rewarded with another call-up by national coach Dunga.
Robinho, who scored the winning goal the last time Brazil played Ireland – at Lansdowne Road in February 2008 – is joined in the squad for the March 2 friendly at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium by other familiar names, including Real Madrid star Kaka, Barcelona full-back Dani Alves, Liverpool midfielder Lucas and current leading scorer for the national side, Sevilla’s Luis Fabiano.
But, despite showing a resurgence of form for AC Milan, twice former World Player of the Year Ronaldinho misses out, as does Chelsea defender Alex. Questioned about Ronaldinho’s omission for what will be Brazil’s final warm-up game before South Africa, Dunga said: "Every player has chances (of a place in the squad) but at this moment he isn’t part of it."
Meanwhile, speculation is intensifying that Guus Hiddink will no longer be in charge of the Russian national team by the time Ireland’s European Championship qualifying group kicks off in September.
Hiddink’s agent Cees van Nieuwenheizen was yesterday quoted as saying that the Dutchman – who has already been linked with a move to Turkey — would consider filling the recently vacated post of manager of Nigeria in time for the World Cup finals.
Ironically, this news came as the Nigerian FA formerly added the name of Giovanni Trapattoni to their shortlist of candidates even though the Irish manager has made it clear on a number of occasions that he intends to see out his contract with the FAI.
Said Hiddink’s agent van Nieuwenheizen: "Guus is a loyal employee of the Russian Football Federation. He has a contract until July 15 and he never breaks a contract. If, and I say if — because we have not been officially contacted by the Nigeria federation – but if we get such an offer, we will have to discuss with the Russian Federation and if there could be an agreement with the Russian federation, then Guus could consider the situation.
"Already, he has received offers from other countries who want him to take them to the World Cup. One of them is North Korea. Guus did not want to go anywhere because he did not qualify Russia for the World Cup, but now with the new president, things might have changed."
However, the urgency with which the Nigerians need to replace sacked coach Shiabu Amodu could be a problem. A final shortlist of three candidates is expected to be submitted to the Nigerian Football Federation executive committee before the end of the month, but van Nieuwenheizen says he is uncertain if a resolution can be reached with the Russians in such a short time.
"I don’t think we can find a solution in the next few days. The new president came in last week, Guus had one discussion with him and then they went to Poland for the Euro 2012 draws. They will speak again, but I do not think it will be possible to find a solution quickly."
Brazil squad v Republic of Ireland, Tuesday March 2, Emirates Stadium, London: Julio Cesar (Inter), Doni (Roma), Maicon, Lucio (both Inter), Dani Alves (Barcelona), Gilberto (Cruzeiro), Michel Bastos (Lyon), Juan (Roma), Luisao (Benfica), Thiago Silva (AC Milan), Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos), Josue (Wolfsburg), Felipe Melo (Juventus), Lucas (Liverpool), Kaka (Real Madrid), Ramires (Benfica), Elano (Galatasaray), Julio Baptista (Roma), Kleberson (Flamengo), Robinho (Manchester City — on loan to Santos), Adriano (Flamengo), Nilmar (Villarreal), Luis Fabiano (Seville).
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