Following a pair of cameo appearances in Brazil’s friendly victories over Colombia and Ecuador earlier in the month, Liverpool play maker Philippe Coutinho has retained his place in La Selecao boss Dunga’s team.
It was a close affair on both occasions as the Brazil great returned for his second spell in charge of the national team. One goal was good enough in either fixture as Brazil downed their South American neighbours during a brief spell in the United States, but Dunga will be looking for opportunities to tighten things up when they take on World Cup finalists Argentina and bitter rivals Argentina in Beijing on October 11th and Japan three days later in Singapore.
The 22-year old missed out on on representing his country at the World Cup over the summer, but following the departure of Luiz Felipe Scolari on the back of a poor showing on home soil, the diminutive play-maker has been handed an international life-line by the returning Brazilian legend. Coutinho has come in for some criticism early on in the campaign with the new look Reds front line failing to gel as quickly as expected, but he’s received backing to lead his team forward from an unlikely source — Queens Park Rangers midfielder Joey Barton.
“Coutinho played a huge part in Liverpool’s impressive season last year: he created more chances for Liverpool (65) than any player except Gerrard and Suarez,” he wrote on his website. “His vision, creativity and passing ability will be instrumental in filling the void left by Luis Suarez, and if he gets the opportunity to play in the hole behind Sturridge and Balotelli he should be able to supply the ammunition they need to progress past the group stages.”
Well, if Joey thinks he can do it, there’s no stopping him now…
