Dunga leaves Ronaldinho and Pato off Brazil WC Roster

With the World Cup just 30 short days away, preliminary rosters for all 32 nations were due to FIFA today. For most nations, these rosters now include 30 players, 23 of which will make the final cut. As always, there have been surprise omissions and additions to rosters from England to the good ol’ USA. But my attention for today is on perennial powerhouse Brazil. Brazil coach Dunga is no stranger to making controversial decisions with his loaded talent pool, and he has stuck by his word today by leaving Ronaldinho and phenom Pato off Brazil’s preliminary World Cup roster.

While Brazil is nowhere near as close to being as big a favorite in South Africa as many believe, I want to focus on Dunga’s decision to leave off two of footballs most skilled and exciting attacking talents from my admittedly favored AC Milan squad. To start, I’ll discuss the Pato omission, which is only one iota more defensible than the Ronaldinho one.

For those who might not know, Alexandre Pato is a 20 year old striker for AC Milan who possesses blinding speed, a cool finish, and is without question the future of joga bonito and at the center of Brazil’s hopes when they host the 2014 World Cup. His only problem has been one with injuries, especially this season, when he was only fit enough to appear in 22 league matches. Despite having several setbacks with hamstring issues, Pato was still able to bang in 12 goals, playing out of position as a right forward. Recently, Pato was fit enough to make a start this weekend for Milan, but was admittedly rusty in his first game in over a month.

So, the question is who did Dunga choose over the promise and speed of Pato? The answer; not former stars such as Adriano or Ronaldo, or other promising youngsters such as Neymar, but Grafite, a 31 year old striker who plays for Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga. While Grafite had an admittedly terrific season last year, he is even more inexperienced than the 20 year old Pato on the international stage and has been only average this season. Because he did not share Pato’s injury bug, Grafite made 31 league appearances this season for Wolfsburg, scoring 11 goals. Yes you read that right, Grafite is 11 years older, appeared in 9 more league games, and scored…one less goal than Pato, in the high scoring Bundesliga. While Pato has had his injury problems, isn’t the purpose of a preliminary roster to bring players into camp to test their fitness and skills against one another? It is foolish to leave out a player who is simply younger, faster, more talented and more productive just because he has been inconsistent via injury. The Brazil camp is a time to test whether or not Pato is fit enough to make the Brazil team. While it may be that Pato is not fit enough, he also could easily be the speed and attacking talent off the bench that Brazil need to win the World Cup, and at the very least he is the outstanding talent that Brazil should be nourishing and giving experience to for the next World Cup. Instead Dunga leaves Pato out in the cold, while bringing in Grafite, who is unlikely to even make the final roster, much less have an impact this summer.

When the omission of the most talented 20 year old footballer in the world is not even your worst move, you have issues, and Dunga, your Brazil team has issues, especially on its bench. By omitting Ronaldinho, one of the greatest players ever, and one having a stellar season for Milan, you make it clear that there are ulterior motives to your decision. It has to be that Dunga simply hates the flash and party personality that is Ronaldinho, (possibly for embarrassing him back in the day) because the move makes no sense, especially considering who is on the roster. Taking a potential spot away from Ronaldinho is Julio Baptista, known as the Beast, who currently plays for Roma. Considering that my two favorite teams are Milan and Roma, and that I only work part time and have no life, I am quite certain that I have watched more Milan and Roma games this season than Dunga has. And from a neutral perspective, it is painfully obvious that Ronaldinho is currently head and shoulders above Baptista in their current form. Let’s check the numbers for starters. Ronaldinho has appeared in 35 league games, with 33 starts, scoring 10 goals and tallying a massive 14 assists. Baptista has appeared in 23 league matches for Roma, only FOUR of which have been starts. Seriously, Baptista has started only four games for his club all season, not exactly the kind of player that should be playing for Brazil in the World Cup. In these appearances, he has scored 3 goals, and you guessed it, has zero assists.

In addition to the stats, Baptista fails the eye test. In every game that I have seen, the man nicknamed the Beast for his (former) speed and strength has looked more like a lost turtle. He looks chubby, frequently loses the ball, passes terribly, misses open chances and occasionally tracks back on defense. Ronaldinho on the other hand, is responsible for creating 95% of Milan’s chances, is constantly double teamed, yet creates brilliant chances with his extraordinary vision every single game. He also finishes when he is supposed to, with a solid ten goals coming from his spot on the left wing. He is a constant threat from set pieces, yet loses the ball often because he is given the responsibility to create in traffic nearly every offensive possession by Milan. His one major flaw: not getting back on defense. This flaw, while a detriment to Brazil’s style under Dunga, is not reason enough for him not to make the team. It is a matter of too much focus on what Ronnie doesn’t do instead of all the amazing things that he does. For me, the choice is obvious, include Baptista, who won’t help create chances or score goals off the Brazil bench and will occasionally track back, or Ronaldinho, who will definitely create chances, might score a free kick goal, and will be more inclined to track back with the World Cup on the line. Notice that I’m not even pushing for Dinho to start, despite the fact that the probable starter for Brazil at left forward is Robinho who was so bad he had to essentially quit Man City and now is not even the best attacker (behind Neymar) on his Santos squad. Nope, I just wish that Ronaldinho and Pato had made the Brazil team, so I could root for them in peace instead of wondering why Dunga is about to bring on then Beast, or should I say the Turtle, in a crucial quarterfinal match a month and a half from now.