Brazil to experiment with team after sealing World Cup berth
Sao Paulo, March 30 (IANS) Brazil national football coach Tite said he plans to give opportunities to new players after his team secured a place at next year’s FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Brazil became the first team to qualify for football’s showpiece tournament — other than hosts Russia — by defeating Paraguay 3-0 in Sao Paulo on Tuesday, reports Xinhua news agency.
It was Brazil’s eighth consecutive victory, continuing Tite’s unbroken run since he took over from Dunga in June.
In that time Brazil have jumped from sixth to first in the South American zone World Cup qualifying standings and they are already among the favourites to win the title for a sixth time.
“Now that we have classified we can can open up our perspective,” Tite told reporters on Wednesday.
“We can give a few other players a chance, creating healthy competition for places.”
Brazil will play international friendlies against Argentina and Australia in Australia in June before resuming their World Cup qualifying campaign against Ecuador in August.
Tite said experimenting with new personnel would benefit the team as he analyzes all of his options.
“All places in the team can change,” the former Corinthians manager said.
“When I started (last September), Willian was in great form. He dropped his level a bit and Philippe Coutinho came in.
“Now Willian is playing well again for Chelsea. Dani Alves is a fantastic player but he missed this match (through suspension) and Fagner came into the side. There’s also Mariano, Rafinha, Fabinho. We are looking at everybody. The team is not closed,” he added.