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Robinho gets a rest

June 26th, 2006 | By: Zé Fernando | 10 Comments »

Just when it looked like Robinho had finally made it into the main squad, he gets injured after a goal kick training.

According to CBF, the injury is nothing serious, and he’s not feeling any pain - however, he won’t be able to play against Ghana next tuesday. He will continue physiotherapy for a few days, and will be able to come back to the team if Brazil gets past Ghana. It’s Robinho’s first injury as a professional player.

Regarded by Parreira as the 12th player of the main squad, Robinho was always the first replacement in mind to the team. He added agility to the offensive side of the team, and he was one of the best players on Brazil’s recent victory against Japan, adding speed and connectivity to the team. It’s hard to imagine how Parreira will play without him, but he will probably resort to the initial formation, the one saw against Croatia and Australia - with two forwards (Adriano and Ronaldo).

In my opinion, this has proved to be quite inefficient, and it would easily show against the fast runners of Ghana. Here in Brazil, with Robinho’s heartbreaking injury, the public seem to want Juninho Pernambucano joining the midfield instead - moving Ronaldinho Gaúcho more to the front (more or less doing what Robinho used to do) and still removing one forward (Adriano more probably).

Parreira hasn’t even hinted at what kind of formation he might use yet, so we’re still just speculating.

Tags: Japan, Robinho

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Comments

By vic* | June 26th, 2006 at 6:07 pm

yeh, that’s not a good news at all. parreira might start with adriano ronaldo and see how it works out. and if they don’t click then bring juninho in and, maybe push ronaldinho little up front. you know, in any case, brsil should be able to get around one of their forwards, even if it’s someone like robinhio. anyway, they got juninhio, fred. we just need them to play well and balanced as a team. they need roanaldinhio and ronaldo to play well - to keep up their performance of japan game and even emprove on it.

Posted from United States

By Zé | June 26th, 2006 at 6:40 pm

Parreira just gave a press interview again now and he was his usual self - dodging questions and being generically angry at the questions. He didn’t give any hint to what he will do with the team again.

Posted from Brazil

By vic* | June 26th, 2006 at 6:58 pm

well’ that all right. it’ll keep ganha guessing. as long as parreira himself knows what he’s doing. we’ll see the result tomorrow.

Posted from United States

By Sourav | June 26th, 2006 at 7:18 pm

I am hoping for a stronger midfield with Juninho. This gives Ronaldinho a more forward role and also to Kaka sitting slightly back behind R9 and R10. Hope Ronaldo-Ronaldinho combination plays work well. Deeper midfield would also mean more control and less ball and space for Ghana. I hope Brasil goes for the midfield ball fast to keep Ghana from developing their attack play. So far I have not seen Ghana play long balls over midfield, so quick challehges in midfield is necessary to keep Ghana plays from developing. The Ghana players are way more skilled than what Brasil have played so far, but may not be as compact as Australia or Croatia. Brasil can surely win (against any team) but need to play well. Going down by a goal or more from this stage onwards will be progressively more difficult to overcome.

A word about the acting/refeering so far. The whole fair play thing has been dumped with dives and fakes and fights. Some Non cards and wrong cards as well. Plus quite a few offside decisions have been wrong. Hope Brasil does not increase blood pressure by letting teams hang on till late but settle matches with something to spare for one to two acting/wrong decisions.

Posted from United States

By Alrod | June 26th, 2006 at 10:00 pm

Parriera will feild Ronldo & Ronaldinho up front with Juninho and KAka Behind them distributing the ball. Gilberto Silva(later on Ze Roberto) Emerson will be just above the defense of R.Carlos, Cafu and lucio

Posted from United States

By Euler | June 27th, 2006 at 12:46 am

Parreira will be cursed forever if he don’t keep Juninho in the team. Not forever if we win, naturally, but I can’t imagine Ronaldo and Adriano playing together. Some people already started to call them ‘Twin Towers’.

By seyi | June 27th, 2006 at 1:46 am

hey, first of all, pls note that i am posting from nigeria and not israel.

i really believe more in fred as a striker than robinho or even adriano. i think brazil will need him now that they are in knockout stage. they have excess creativity but they need a ruthless, fully fit and pragmatic striker so all those chances wont waste.

Posted from Israel

By kat | June 27th, 2006 at 9:18 am

i think Brazil should put players who can spped up things to be able to stop Ghana’s offense and be able to able to speed up plays because I think that is what Ghana is trying to do…

Posted from Philippines