Brazil - nuts!

Pele's son gets 33 year sentence for money laundering drug profits.

see www.ukyahoo.com

I think it's nuts Brazil left Kaka and Robinho out of their squad.

Unless they are carrying injuries? Or in really poor form recently?

Those two would waltz in to most squads....

Brazil have included a lot of English Premier League players in its Finals squad - six - the most from any league.

(Four from Chelsea, one each from Man City & Spurs)

And only four who play in Brazil! Only two outfield players who play in Brazil!

Plus three from la Liga, three from Serie A, two from Bundesliga, two from France.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/brazil/10810176/Brazil-World-Cup-2014-squad.html

Mentioned this in another thread, but with most of the top South American players also playing and living in Europe (almost the whole Brazil squad as above), is there any chance they may also be more used to playing in European conditions than the type of heat they will get in Brazil? Players like Suarez and Aguero for instance must be more accustomed to conditions in the north of England.

They still play games at home pretty frequently. They will cope a hell of a lot better than the Europeans.

Both Kaka and Robinho, as well as Ronaldinho, have been given chances to show Scolari what they've got and not really delivered. Robinho would not get into the squads of the top several nations on the back of his form over the last couple of years regardless, same can probably be said for Kaka.

Ronaldinho on the other hand has played well for Atletico Mineiro recently, but doesn't fit into the national team style of play and probably lacks the attitude Scolari wants from his players.

With Oscar, Bernard, Neymar, Hulk and Willian Brazil are well stocked in the attacking midfield positions, the one who is really unlucky to have missed out is Liverpool's Coutinho who has been in great form and in my opinion would have been the ideal backup to Oscar, as he is better in the #10 role than the others I've mentioned, who are pacier and better suited to playing out wide.

Brazilian comedian Gregorio Duvivier's advice to foreigners ["gringos"] visiting Brazil:

http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/colunas/gregorioduviv...

"It's better to wait seated. Everything is atrasado [late], it's like subentendido [implicit] that the person will be atrasada. For a meeting, it's meia hora [half an hour]. For a party, it's two hours. For a stadium, it's one year. For the metrô, it's forever."

Greeting people:

"In Brazil we give two beijinhos [kisses]. Em São Paulo, just one beijinho. If you are em Minas, it's three beijinhos, pra casar. It's a tradition. If you don't give three kisses, you don't marry in Minas. In the other places of Brazil, you can give how much beijinhos you want. In Rio, the beijinho is in the shoulder."

"Never say you are a gringo. Yes, people love gringo money but people also love gringos have money and people are going to charge you more money because you are foreigner. Say you are from Florianópolis. People from Florianópolis look like gringo and they have a strange accent like you. People will believe you are from Florianópolis."

On Brazil's syncretic (hodgepodge) religious beliefs: 

"I'm Catholic but I'm also Buddhist and I am son of Oxóssi. How do you say Oxóssi in English? It's the brother of Ogum. You don't know Ogum? They are guerreiros. And my moon is in Áries. Ou seja. Imagine the mess."