Santos starlet Gabriel ‘Gabigol’ Barbosa and Liverpool’s Coutinho were among those named in Brazil coach Dunga’s final 23-man squad for June’s Copa America Centenario.
Orlando City’s Kaka, Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino, PSG’s Lucas Moura and Cheslea’s Oscar were were among 17 players to be cut from the preliminary 40-man squad announced last week.
The others were Marcelo Grohe, Fagner, Alex Sandro, Jemerson, Gabriel Paulista, Wallace, Fernandinho, Ganso, Felipe Anderson, Luan, Jonas, Alex Teixeira and Gabriel Jesus.
Captain Neymar will be absent after an agreement was reached with Barcelona that will see the forward play the Rio Olympic games instead.
Inter defender Miranda and Chelsea midfielder Willian, Dunga’s first choices for his remaining two overage slots at the games, were named in the final 23 which appears to have ruled them out of the Olympics.
Real Madrid’s Casemiro returns to the squad following an impressive season with Spanish giants, as does Barcelona’s Rafinha who had been missing since suffering a serious knee injury in September.
Elias of Corinthians, Dunga’s most-capped midfielder after Willian, also returns after overcoming injury problems.
Any late replacements to the squad must be selected from the remaining 17 from Dunga’s preliminary squad.
Brazil have been drawn in Group B of the centenary version of the competition, set to be played in USA, alongside Ecuador Haiti and Peru.
The Copa America Centenario has been organized to celebrate 100-years of the South American football championships. It will be played outside of the continent for the first time and feature six teams from North American confederation CONCACAF
Brazil's Copa America Centenario squad in full
Goalkeepers: Alisson (Internacional), Diego Alves (Valencia), Ederson (Benfica)
Defenders: Miranda (Inter), Gil (Shandong Luneng), Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain), Rodrigo Caio (Sao Paulo), Dani Alves (Barcelona), Filipe Luis (Atletico Madrid), Fabinho (Monaco), Douglas Santos (Atletico Mineiro)
Midfielder: Luiz Gustavo (Wolfsburg), Elias (Corinthians), Renato Augusto (Beijing Guoan), Coutinho (Liverpool), Lucas Lima (Santos), Willian (Chelsea), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Rafinha (Barcelona)
Forwards: Douglas Costa (Bayern Munich), Hulk (Zenit), Gabigol (Santos), Ricardo Oliveira (Santos)
- Goal