Brazil-Morroco: Leonardo in the start list

Comments made at Ozoir-la Ferrière (south-east of PARIS) at the Trois Sapins stadium, following the BRAZIL training session on 14 June.

Unless something unexpected comes up, LEONARDO (18), midfielder for Milan AC, will start match no.18, BRAZIL-MOROCCO (Tuesday 16 June at 21h00 at the Stade de la Beaujoire at NANTES). Following a training match won by the starters against the substitutes (6-1), in which LEONARDO scored a goal and made three key passes, he said he was very happy: “I wasn’t at all sure that I would be playing in the match against MOROCCO. Right now, I’m feeling better and better during the training sessions and I can tell you that I worked hard to come back and be part of the starting line-up. After spending nine years playing for the team, playing in the World Cup is a dream come true for us, the players, as well as for all Brazilians.” A starter against SCOTLAND who had been criticised by the team management and who has not had much support from his team-mates, GIOVANNI (7), is the one who is paying the price this time.

The most excited player is BEBETO (20), who pulled off a hat-trick during the training session and who is playing once again with another former member of the 1994 team. “Every day, LEONARDO is getting stronger during the training sessions. He and GIOVANNI (7) are great players, but what counts most of all is playing as a team, working together and pooling all our efforts to reach the same goal.”

For BEBETO, this fifth World Cup means working on the game between himself and RONALDO (9): “We’re adding more to our training sessions, our reflexes are getting sharper, which makes it easier for RONALDO (9) and me to score (RONALDO scored two goals during the last training session).” Nonetheless, he claimed, “Scoring goals isn’t new for me…I always have been a striker (67 team selections, 38 goals), as is RONALDO. From now on, it’s him and me, we’re ready to help BRAZIL win. Whether or not there is a change in the midfield.”