RIO DE JANEIRO: A training-ground injury has ruled Chelsea midfielder Oscar out of Brazil’s squad for next month’s Copa America in Chile, coach Dunga said on Tuesday.

“Oscar got an injury in his last training session with Chelsea, we spoke with [Chelsea manager Jose] Mourinho and the doctor at Chelsea and his recuperation will take time and he won’t be at his best during the Copa Ame­r­ica,” Dunga said.

“After the Copa America we have the World Cup qualifiers, and we thought it best for him to be ready for the qualifiers.”

Former Real Madrid and Manchester City striker Robinho was included after a fine start to the season with Santos.

“He is much more experienced obviously, he knows his role in the national side,” Dunga said. “He has great skill and has shown that at Santos and he has more responsibility this time to pass on that experience to the younger players.”

Liverpool’s 22-year old Philippe Coutinho was included for his first major tournament and there were also places for Al-Ahli’s Everton Ribeiro and Diego Tardelli, who plays for Shandong Luneng in China.

Squad:

Jefferson (Botafogo), Marcelo Grohe (Gremio), Diego Alves (Valencia) David Luiz (Paris St. Germain), Marquinhos (Paris St Germain), Thiago Silva (Paris St Germain), Miranda (Atletico Madrid), Filipe Luis (Chelsea), Danilo (Porto), Fabino (Monaco), Marcelo (Real Madrid) Luiz Gustavo (Wolfsburg), Elias (Corinthians), Casemiro (Porto), Fernandinho (Manchester City), Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool), Willian (Chelsea) Everton Ribeiro (Al-Ahli), Neymar (Barcelona), Firmino (Hoffenheim), Douglas Costa (Shakhtar), Diego Tardelli (Shandong), Robinho (Santos).

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2015

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