Brazil coach undecided over Kaka-Ronaldinho pairing

NYON, Switzerland — Luiz Felipe Scolari admitted Wednesday, March 20, he is still undecided whether veteran pair Kaka and Ronaldinho can have a future together with the Brazilian national team.

Ronaldinho has not been called up by the 2002 World Cup winning coach this time for friendlies against Italy in Geneva on Thursday and Russia in London on Monday.

But last month it was Kaka who missed out while Ronaldinho was included in the 2-1 defeat to England at Wembley.

Once integral playmakers in the same Brazil team, it now seems that Felipao, as Scolari is known in his homeland, doesn’t want to risk playing them both together.

Play separately

“I prefer seeing them separately, I preferred to give one a chance first and then the other,” said Scolari.

“Then we’ll see later whether we can play them together or whether it’s better not to.”

Scolari openly admits he is using the Selecao’s friendlies to try out different players with the view to finding the right team ahead of June’s Confederations’ Cup.

“I haven’t completely decided on the group, these training sessions and matches show us which players we should count on,” he added.

But although he is using these friendlies to experiment, Scolari is still keen to win them to build momentum.

“The result is also important. We need to show greater strength, belief and confidence. That can only happen by winning so that’s why the result is also important.” – Rappler.com