Midfielders
Casemiro
To establish yourself in a midfield with the likes of Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Isco, James Rodriguez and Matteo Kovacic isn’t easy even despite his unique characteristic and says a lot about Casemiro’s quality.
After his brilliant campaign with Porto, one wondered whether Madrid would really give him the game time he deserved and the answer has been a resounding yes.
Allan
Allan, the Napoli dynamo was also completely overlooked for the Copa America. Brazil could have improved by leaps and bounds by a midfielder of his quality. The Napoli midfielder is great at winning possession and distributing the ball efficiently and makes great runs into the box periodically as well.
Given Brazil’s lack of world class options in central midfield, Allan’s exclusion from the Brazil setup was a great loss.
Attackers
Lucas Lima
The Santos midfielder has been the subject of interest from several European clubs for the last year or so. The visionary midfielder has an eye for a great pass and has done his reputation no harm in the Copa America.
He could have played a more prominent role though and with him placed in the starting lineup, Brazil would have had a lot more attacking impetus.
Philippe Coutinho
Coutinho’s talent has never been in any doubt, even in his time at Inter you could see flickers of his superb potential. A brilliant dribble here, an amazing pass played with minimal effort, Coutinho always caught the eye but was too inconsistent to make Inter think they could depend on him.
His time at Liverpool though has been different, and he has constantly grown into a more consistent and reliable performer.
Willian
Willian retains his place as well. He’s just come off his best season at Chelsea and his work rate adds a lot the team.
Together with Lucas Lima and Coutinho, he could have formed a trident that could have enough pace, creativity and endeavour to break through the defenses in the Copa.
Roberto Firmino
In the absence of Neymar, Firmino should have been the obvious choice to lead the Brazil front line (also considering the absence of a world class Brazilian center forward). And yet, he didn’t even make the squad.
It’s hard to see where a player like Firmino lost out in Dunga’s eyes. Versatile, great work rate and a tidy finisher, Firmino would have added great value to the Brazil squad at the very least. His inclusion could have made a difference as well.
Make no mistake, the absences of Neymar, Douglas Costa, Oscar and even Luiz Gustavo who had to withdraw from the squad because of personal reasons also made a crucial difference.
Players like Fernandinho and Felipe Anderson could have also made an impact in the United States, so the question people need to ask is, are Brazil really as terrible as their recent performances suggest or do they have still have talented players capable of representing the Selecao with pride?
The Brazil team that should have played at the Copa.
