Nesta retires from Internationals

look Bernd

let's be serious for a moment

the only reason why we Germans are incorporating Polish and Spanish strikers into the Nationalmannschaft is that the Brazilians just aren't good enough any more

letting Kuranyi go was the greatest mistake the Brazilians made in the last 20 years, ever since they lost Rink to us

the truth is, even if we wanted to "naturalise", or is that "nationlise" the hottest Brazilian talents, it would not work

for the same reason as it's difficult to find a well in the desert or capsize a pedalo or find jelly-beans on a Cricket pitch

my greatest regret is that on August 22 Germany will play England and not Brazil

we Germans are DECENT men who refuse to beat girls no matter how much they pull our hair

we know that England fans pay up to £90 pounds for a bog-standard seat and will try to make your girls look good

Brazil however, we would slaughter

no first or second gear nonsense there

rather from 0-100 km-h in 3.0 seconds, in order to stop at 500 metres, let them overtake us, and start the whole the again, and again

Still think you're completely missing the point here Bernd (deliberately I assume), football being a team game and the effectiveness of the striker combo/how they combine with midfield being the important thing. An Observer (!) match report described Klose and Poldi as "surely the finest strikeforce in international football at the moment" last autumn, and it wasn't a ridiculous comment. All that's happened since then is a loss of form from Klose and a combination of the same plus being unable to get a game on the part of Lukas, while excellent form nationally and internationally from Kuranyi and Gomez has shown that they're more than capable of stepping in at the same level.

In terms of conventional/4-4-2 strikers (Fred, Afonso??) Brazil are indeed hardly well-stocked at the moment, so there is good reason for them to try new systems.

What do you think of an avatar-style bet for the 22nd, ol' Bernd?

blutgraetsche wrote:
Who ruined his chance to ever play for the Selecao again by missing that penalty against Uruguay.

That's what you get for playing in Holland for too long...

Looks like I was right about Afonso. Dunga has not nominated him for the friendly against Algeria on August 22nd. Both Diego and Naldo have been called up again:

Confira a lista de convocados
GOLEIROS
Doni (Roma) e Júlio César (Inter de Milão)

ZAGUEIROS
Alex Silva (São Paulo), Juan (Roma), Lúcio (Bayern de Munique) e Naldo (Werder Bremen).

LATERAIS
Daniel Alves (Sevilla), Gilberto (Hertha Berlin), Kléber (Santos) e Maicon (Inter de Milão).

MEIO-CAMPISTAS
Fernando (Bordeaux), Josué (São Paulo), Mineiro (Hertha Berlin), Lucas (Liverpool), Elano (Manchester City), Diego (Werder Bremen), Júlio Baptista (Real Madrid) e Kaká (Milan).

ATACANTES
Rafael Sóbis (Betis), Robinho (Real Madrid), Ronaldinho Gaúcho (Barcelona) e Vágner Love (CSKA Moscou).

http://www.cosmo.com.br/esportes/integra.asp?id=203713


Link cheekily stolen from chrissi, who still prefers to post in the Werder forum rather than here...

blutgraetsche wrote:

blutgraetsche wrote:
Who ruined his chance to ever play for the Selecao again by missing that penalty against Uruguay.

That's what you get for playing in Holland for too long...

Looks like I was right about Afonso. Dunga has not nominated him for the friendly against Algeria on August 22nd. Both Diego and Naldo have been called up again:

Confira a lista de convocados
GOLEIROS
Doni (Roma) e Júlio César (Inter de Milão)

ZAGUEIROS
Alex Silva (São Paulo), Juan (Roma), Lúcio (Bayern de Munique) e Naldo (Werder Bremen).

LATERAIS
Daniel Alves (Sevilla), Gilberto (Hertha Berlin), Kléber (Santos) e Maicon (Inter de Milão).

MEIO-CAMPISTAS
Fernando (Bordeaux), Josué (São Paulo), Mineiro (Hertha Berlin), Lucas (Liverpool), Elano (Manchester City), Diego (Werder Bremen), Júlio Baptista (Real Madrid) e Kaká (Milan).

ATACANTES
Rafael Sóbis (Betis), Robinho (Real Madrid), Ronaldinho Gaúcho (Barcelona) e Vágner Love (CSKA Moscou).

Link cheekily stolen from chrissi, who still prefers to post in the Werder forum rather than here...

Get him over here then.