Welcome to Selecao Bootcamp, Uma Tradição Futbolita! Everyone gather yourselves because it's that time of the year so ya'll better get excited. Anyway, our manos have landed in Qatar, more specifically, the Four Seasons Hotel where they're putting up during their stay in Doha.

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So Dopey officially called up 24 homensfor the selecao's upcoming friendly matches next month. Ooooh yes, we mean that exciting one against England in Qatar on the 14th and the other one against Oman in Muscat.

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Hulk, Michel Bastos, Fábio Aurélio, Carlos Eduardo

Dunga has called up 24 players to face England on November 14th in Doha, Qatar, and Oman three days later in Muscat.

The squad includes Liverpool's Lucas and Fábio Aurélio plus Manchester City's Robinho. Porto frontman, Givanildo Vieira de Souza (Hulk), gets his first call-up.

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In the midst of the Alonso summer saga, I posted the results from different midfield pairings. Lucas/Mascherano's line looked like this:
6 wins, 4 draws
2-0 West Brom, 3-0 West Ham, 4-1 United, 1-1 City, 1-1 Wigan, 0-0 Stoke, 5-1 Newcastle, 3-1 PSV [4-4-2], 0-0 Fulham [4-4-2], 2-1 Marseille
Let's ignore the PSV and Fulham games because of the 4-4-2 formation in Gerrard's absence (and Torres' against PSV). Click to continue reading...

We love this tipo, and we're sure you do too! Yes, CQC's resident louco reporter, Felipe Andreoli recently went on one of his missions during the legendary Selecao Bootcamp week and he got pretty far asking Lucas, Luis Fabiano, Dunga, Julio Cesar and Kaka absurd questions.

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OPTA's latest statistics have revealed some surprising facts about the effectiveness of two of Liverpool's key midfielders.
According to OPTA, Javier Mascherano is the top passer in the Premiership this season, with 547 completed passes and an accuracy rate of 87%. Chelsea's Michael Essien has the same accuracy rate but has completed a lot less passes. Click to continue reading...

Tudo bem, people?! Welcome to Day 1 of the Selecao bootcamp.... a staple here at Futbolita. And in true spirit, we just did a thorough assessment of the selecao's arrival at Granja Comary with our Brazilian amiga here, Ana.

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The Boys are Back in Town!

It was good to see us triumph over Burnley on Saturday and I believe there were a number of good reasons for the renewed vigour displayed by the players on the pitch at Anfield on the weekend, and here they are.

Early Goal

It seems obvious but we always perform at our best when we get a relatively early goal.

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At age 22, Zinedine Zidane was playing in the Intertoto Cup with Bordeaux. At that same age, Éric Cantona had just got a move from Auxerre to Marseille. Rivaldo had just moved from Corinthians to cross-town rivals Palmeiras in São Paulo.

With the money involved in today's game and globalized scouting networks, such players would already have been with one of the European giants before they had the chance to establish themselves in their local teams.

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Photos via R.Ribeiro

Ah, an exciting week of international futbol is finally upon us as our hombres prepare to face The Dona's Argentina on Saturday! Yesterday, the Brazilian Bombshells eagerly assembled at the Tom Jobin International Airport (in Rio) before proceeding to Granja Comary.

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Well. We got the points. In the end. Not a vintage display by any means but the fighting mentality and flashes of genius that were so evident in our charge last season were back in patches and our luck certainly changed for the better. We are one game closer to Aquilani being fit and putting an end [. Click to continue reading...

In part 3 of his season preview, Kais Sabir Jesani looks at the potential importance of Lucas Leiva and examines how he will fit into the Liverpool team this season.
Note: This article was intended to have been published before the first game of the season, but unfortunately, this was not possible. Click to continue reading...

.Back in January the odds on Burnley beating both Manchester United and Everton by one goal to nil would have been significantly high. The town of Burnley only is only home to around 73,000 residents (the smallest in the division), they have the smallest wage bill in the Premier League and their transfer funds are [. Click to continue reading...

Of course all is not lost providing we sort ourselves out pretty quickly. As Rafa mentioned in his press conference the Bolton match now becomes a must win. Hard to believe the 4th match of the season could be described as such but I wouldn't fancy falling 9 points behind Chelsea. Anyways, some observations, both positive [. Click to continue reading...

So Dunga has finalized his tropa that will face Argentina next month... and Adriano aside, we're excited to see that our friend Lucas has also been summoned! Grandeeeeee mano!

The Dinho and Pato were both left out of the squad again (Milan's dismal form has been obviously detrimental to their chances ).

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Adriano: They call me mellow yellow

Dunga has called up 22 players for the World Cup qualifying clashes against Argentina in Rosario on September 5th and Chile in Salvador four days later. Â

Flamengo forward, Adriano, is the name that stands out. The player is one of the top scorers in the Campeonato Brasileiro with ten goals to his name.

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This is a marathon not a sprint.

After witnessing Rafa Benitez's Liverpool side conducting a rather frightening opening day performance It seems very relevant to bear one thing in mind. There are still another 37 games to go. As the good book say's in big bright friendly letters, the good book being The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Don't Panic!

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What's the worst that could happen?

Arsenal are reportedly weighing up a move for Real Madrid midfielder Rafael van der Vaart.
The Dutch international has made 32 league appearances netting five times since joining the Madridistas last summer.
However, following the expensive acquisitions of Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso, Real are open to offers for Dutch quintet Van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, Roysten Drenthe and Ruud van Nistelrooy, while Klaas-Jan Huntleaar has already departed for AC Milan.

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White Hart Lane was one of two places where we lost last season- the other was the Riverside. Going by our pre-season form, I had doubts over whether we could take all three points in our opening fixture, like Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United had done.

It was a very, very disappointing performance from Liverpool.

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Back to the drawing board!

Why is it that too many of our players instinctively opt for a backwards ball? That was what I found myself repeating to myself as the game wore on and our performance got progressively worse. Secondly can anyone tell me why Yossi Benayoun didn't start the game?

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Gallery, images, photos and pictures of Liverpool's pre-season friendly match against FC Lyn Oslo. Includes Liverpool's Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, Javier Mascherano, Fernando Torres, Ryan Babel, Lucas, Albert Riera and Andriy Voronin. Click to continue reading...

Will not be missed!

Lucas Leiva has confessed that he could leave Liverpool if he is not granted more starting opportunities this season, with Corinthians the most likely destination.

Xabi Alonso's departure for Real Madrid seemed to open up a slot for the Brazilian midfielder, who has always had Rafael Benitez's backing despite his performances receiving mixed reviews.

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We all know where this is going, but I'll start this post by saying that I don't jump onto Lucas' back while he's on the pitch, regardless of how I rate him. As far as I see it he's wearing red and needs and deserves our support, maybe more so than others. However I'm not [...]
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Okay, so I don't want to single out Marlon (second time that I've posted because of one of your comments!), but I think this sentiment deserves to be here rather than subsumed beneath 15 previous comments.

At this point I'd rather see Lucas come good then seeing a new signing flourish in our midfield.

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It's time for another installment of "Here are the results when certain players play and let's hope it proves something." This edition focuses on the central midfield, as one of the midfielders evidently has Benitez tied up in his basement and is demanding plane tickets to Madrid (I think it was in the Daily Mail). Click to continue reading...

Much maligned midfielder Lucas Leiva is apparently on his way out of Anfield, and it seems that most Liverpool fans would be happy with that...but not Chris Severs, who argues that losing the Brazilian could be a blow for Liverpool.
By pulling statistics from the same source as a Daily Mail writer I can tell you that 95% of Liverpool fans either do not support Lucas or at best will wish him well in leaving Liverpool this summer. Click to continue reading...

A sensational game at Stamford Bridge last night, which even had those corporate-lot in blue, out of their seats and cheering. A tremendous advert for the Premier League, both teams certainly did their bit to make it a European night to remember.

Liverpool went in as underdogs, losing 3-1 from the first leg.

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It was a strange booking. Xabi Alonso stuck out a leg and caught Real Madrid's onrushing defender, Pepe, but Javier Mascherano took the booking. This may have been for kicking the ball away, but the Argentinian seemed to be clearing it in case play didn't stop. It didn't look a bookable offense. As Liverpool's midfield janitor, [. Click to continue reading...

The midfielder seems mystified at his omission from the Selecao, and admits that he may well be forced to leave Merseyside in an attempt to revive his international career. Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva is considering an exit from Anfield in an effort to boost his chances of playing regularly in the yellow shirt of Brazil. Click to continue reading...

The Reds' Brazilian midfielder has revealed that he could join his famous uncle's former club in the near future. Liverpool's Lucas Leiva has opened the door for a possible move to the Primera Division to join Atletico Madrid as he struggles to nail down a permanent first team place at Anfield under Rafa Benitez. Click to continue reading...

As Liverpool fan, by matter of routine, the familiar tune of Sky Sports News tells me of the latest bust up or disagreement between Rafa, who may or may not like Rick, but doesn't like George, although he definitely likes Tom (not sure if he likes George or Rick, as it goes). Sounds silly, [...] Click to continue reading...

You never commit too soon. Mike Pollitt did just that towards the end of the first half of Wigan's home tie with Liverpool and paid the price. While Mido equalize late in the match, this was a game where Wigan seriously had a chance at getting all three points. Yes it's harsh to blame one person with [. Click to continue reading...

Following the high of our win at St James' Park, Rafa rested Benayoun, Lucas, Kuyt & Reina. Replacing them in the starting lineup are Keane, Riera, Alonso & Cavalieri between the posts.

Gerrard was played following his little run-in with the law and produced yet another composed display.

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We'll have that top space of the group now, thank you. The performance delivered by the Reds in the first half seemed to be more of the same. There was lots of passing, not particularly well, with virtually no opportunities being created. PSV's Lazovic snuck one in between Cavalieri's legs after a controversial corner kick.

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Time to get metaphysical: If something happens with predictable regularity, then is it still news? Today we learned that Liverpool's Lucas returned from Champions League duty on Tuesday to find his house had been burgled. And so Lucas joins Dirk Kuyt, Steven Gerrard, Pepe Reina, Daniel Agger and Peter Crouch on the list of Liverpool players [. Click to continue reading...