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| Kaka (up) and Ronaldinho (down) |
Former FIFA World Player of the Year winners Ronaldinho
and Kaka are unlikely to play together at the 2014 World Cup, according
to Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.
Both have been
called up by Scolari for international friendly matches this year but
neither has convinced the 64-year-old manager, reports Xinhua.
Ronaldinho, 33, has been named in Brazil’s squad to face Chile in Belo Horizonte on Wednesday.
“There
is 90 percent chance that they won’t play together,” Scolari said on
Monday. “I have given chances to both of them and I will give one more
chance to Ronaldinho on Wednesday. I never had the opportunity to play
them together in the recent friendlies because of the different
situations both of them were in. It’s probable that I will have to
choose only one.”
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| Brazil's national head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari |
The pair is the only remaining survivors from Scolari’s team that won the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
Kaka,
31, has struggled for form since joining Real Madrid in 2009, while
Ronaldinho last year resurrected his career with Atletico Mineiro by
being named player of the season in Brazil’s Serie A championship.
Scolari also said he was looking to add at least one defensive midfielder to his preferred starting formation.
Among
his current defensive midfield options are Ramires (Cheslea), Paulinho
(Corinthians), Fernando (Gremio), Jean (Fluminense), Ralf (Corinthians)
and Hernanes (Lazio).
“This idea of having goal-scoring central midfielders sounds really nice to the media, but not for the coach,” Scolari said.
“When you have full-backs like Daniel Alves and Marcelo you need to have protection.”