Brazil’s 2010 World Cup Roster: Dunga Names His 23 For South Africa, Excludes Ronaldinho

While most nations are taking advantage of the window between provisional and final roster submissions to initially call-in a larger squad, Dunga and Brazil have followed the course as other nations (like Japan) and named their 23-man, final roster in advance of the June 1 deadline.

On Tuesday, Dunga announced the Selecão team for South Africa, confirming the omission all football fans had suspected. Despite personal expectations to the contrary, Milan attacker and former FIFA World Player of the Year Ronaldinho will not be with Brazil in South Africa.

The 30-year-old has regained some of his form this season, serving as the best player in a Milan team that briefly competed for the scudetto in Italy. However, Ronaldinho had been absent from Brazil’s World Cup qualifiers, even though Dunga had brought him in for the Olympics two years ago.

Ronaldinho, however, has never been a good fit with attacker Kaká, around whom Dunga’s team is build. Additionally, Brazil has seen very little squad variation since ascending to the top of CONMEBOL qualifying earlier this year, portending Ronaldinho’s omission.

Other notable omissions from Brazil’s World Cup squad include Milan’s Alexandre Pato, Juventus’s Diego, and Flamengo’s Adriano.

One surprise inclusion is Lyon’s Michel Bastos, who appears to have made the squad ahead of one-time, first choice left back André Santos. Bastos, normally an attacking player, had previously been called-in at left back and appears to have made the team at the position, along with Cruzeiro’s Gilberto, who appeared at the 2006 World Cup.

But the other names Dunga has built this squad around are all present: Luis Fabiano, Robinho, Lucio, Maicon and Julio César.

Julio Cesar (Internzaionale)
Doni (Roma)
Heurelho Gomes (Tottenham)

Dani Alves (Barcelona)
Michael Bastos (Lyon)
Gilberto (Cruziero)
Juan (Roma)
Lucio (Internazionale)
Luisão (Benfica)
Maicon (Internazionale)
Thiago Silva (Milan)

Julio Baptista (Roma)
Elano (Galatasaray)
Josue (Wolfsburg)
Kaká (Real Madrid)
Kleberson (Flamengo)
Felipe Melo (Juventus)
Ramires (Benfica)
Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos)

Grafite (Wolfsburg)
Luis Fabiano (Sevilla)
Nilmar (Villareal)
Robinho (Manchester City)