Brazil coach picks 26-man squad for World Cup

Brazil’s men’s national football team coach Tite announced the country’s 26-man World Cup squad this Monday afternoon, selecting the players that will try and win Brazil’s sixth world title in Qatar.

Star forwards Neymar and Vinícius Júnior made the list, but there were raised eyebrows at the selection of 39-year-old right-back Daniel Alves, who has struggled since his transfer to Mexican club Pumas and has not played a competitive match since September.

With a long career winning more than 120 caps for Brazil, this will be Daniel Alves’s third World Cup, having been in the squad for the 2010 and 2014 editions, and missing out through injury in 2018.

Elsewhere in the squad, Brazil’s team will be dominated by players plying their trade in the English Premier League, with 12 out of the 26 names representing English sides.

Only three members of the squad — Palmeiras’s Weverton, and Pedro and Everton Ribeiro at Flamengo — play their football at home in Brazil.

The players will gather in Turin for a six-day training camp, before traveling to Qatar. Their first group match will be against Serbia, on November 24, in Lusail. They play Switzerland four days later, before rounding off their Group G campaign against Cameroon.

The full squad is as follows: 

• Goalkeepers: Alisson (Liverpool), Ederson (Manchester City), Weverton (Palmeiras).
• Defenders: Danilo (Juventus), Alex Sandro (Juventus), Daniel Alves (Pumas), Alex Telles (Sevilla), Eder Militão (Real Madrid), Marquinhos (PSG), Thiago Silva (Chelsea), Bremer (Juventus).
• Midfielders: Bruno Guimarães (Newcastle United), Casemiro (Manchester United), Fabinho (Liverpool), Fred (Manchester United), Lucas Paquetá (West Ham United), Everton Ribeiro (Flamengo).
• Forwards: Neymar (PSG), Vinícius Júnior (Real Madrid), Antony (Manchester United), Rodrygo (Real Madrid), Raphinha (Barcelona), Richarlison (Tottenham Hotspur), Pedro (Flamengo), Gabriel Jesus (Arsenal), Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal).

• #football
• #worldCup