Finalists to Be Part of Beijing Olympics.

By: Mauro | July 8th, 2008

The coaches of Argentina and Brazil’s Olympic teams have spoken and the list of players called up for their respective Olympic teams has made news. Among the two teams are players who had a hand in making this year’s Copa Libertadores a memorable one.

First, the lists.

For Brazil we’ll see the following players suit up in the Verde Amarela:

Goalkeepers: Diego (Almería, Spain) y Renan (Internacional, Brazil).

Defenders: Marcelo (Real Madrid, Spain), Ilsinho (Shakhtar Donetsk, Ukraine), Rafinha (Schalke 04, Germany), Thiago Silva (Fluminense, Brazil), Alex Silva (Sao Paulo, Brazil) y Breno (Bayern Munich, Germany).

Midfielders: Lucas (Liverpool, England), Anderson (Manchester United, England), Hernanes (San Pablo, Brazil), Ronaldinho Gaúcho (Barcelona, Spain), Diego (Werder Bremen, Germany) and Thiago Neves (Fluminense, Brazil).

Strikers: Robinho (Real Madrid, Spain), Alexandre Pato (AC Milan, Italy), Rafael Sobis (Betis, Spain) y Jo (Manchester City, England).

And for Argentina we’ll see these players pulling on the Albiceleste:

Goalkeepers: Oscar Ustari (Getafe, Spain), Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar, Netherlands).

Defenders: Ezequiel Garay (Real Madrid, Spain), Federico Fazio (Sevilla, Spain), Luciano Monzón (Boca Juniors, Argentina) and Pablo Zabaleta (Espanyol, Spain)

Midfielders: Juan Román Riquelme (Boca Juniors, Argentina), Ever Banega (Valencia, Spain), Fernando Gago (Real Madrid, Spain), Diego Buonanotte (River Plate, Argentina), Javier Mascherano (Liverpool, England) and José Sosa (Bayern Munich, Germany).

Strikers: Lautaro Acosta (Sevilla, Spain), Sergio Agüero (Atlético Madrid, Spain), Ezequiel Lavezzi (Napoli, Italy), Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Spain), Angel Di María (Benfica, Portugal)

Those players that participated in the 2008 Copa Libertadores are Thiago Silva, Thiago Neves, Hernanes, Diego Buonanotte and Lautaro Acosta.

Thiago Silva is the marquee center back for Fluminense and a finalist of this year’s competition. Thiago Silva had a fantastic cup, playing and overlapping on the right with Thiago Neves or Gabriel. But he’s not only great coming forward, he’s fantastic defending and made a great partnership with Junior Cesar and Luiz Alberto. With only 6 defenders called up and with Brazil playing with a probable backline of four, I expect to see him playing on the right of center since he is one of Brazil’s shining defenders of the moment.

Thiago Silva’s teammate Thiago Neves was the marquee player for Fluminense period. His performance in the final of the competition where he scored four goals over the two legs and was a nightmare for LDU Quito defenders the entire night of the second leg. Thiago Neves caught my eye early on in the Libertadores when he Dodo and Gabriel had a great match against Arsenal de Sarandi. I expect to see plenty of him in this competition on the heels of such an impressive performance.

Sao Paulo was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Fluminense but not before we saw a little of the magic that the young Brazilian midfielder had to offer. Hernanes has shown plenty of promise at only 23 years old and looks to have a bright future ahead of him. I’m not sure how much playing time he’ll have in Beijing with players like Ronalidinho or Diego in front of him but should he gets some time on the pitch, look for him to impress.

With only a few starts under his belt in this year’s Libertadores, Diego Buonanotte, has already shown plenty of promise. While he is small, he has a low center of gravity which makes him tough to shove off the ball and he has a very talented left foot. Not sure if he’ll get much time on Batista’s starting squad with Riquelme ahead of him but with only José Sosa to compete with him, it’s possible for him to sneak in some minutes.

While having a fantastic 2007 Apertura with his side Lanús as champs, Lautaro Acosta had a great partnership with José Sand on the forward line. Sand played the center striker position and Lautaro mostly played just outside the area around Sand. He’s got a great sprint off the ball and can either cut in from the flanks or play as the main striker where he had to cover for his injured teammates early in the group stage. His good work has earned him a transfer to La Liga with Sevilla. While I don’t expect to see much of him in Beijing, if he is needed, he’s a solid backup.

While the clubs are not required to concede the overage players to the Olympic teams, which is why, Argentina will be without Fabricio Coloccini and Nicolas Burdisso. Both their clubs have denied the Argentine FA access to the players and denied the players permission to participate. Still, Argentine coach Sergio Batista is looking to Nicolás Pareja or Gabriel Heinze as possible replacements on his backline. Martin Demichelis was also denied permission to play with Argentina in Beijing by his club Bayern Munich earlier this summer.

Stay tuned to see if any of these other players find themselves moving along across the pond or if they’ll play solid roles with their clubs in the upcoming Copa Sudamericana.