Monday, June 09, 2008

Lucas Is A Step Closer To Olympics With Brazil

The possibility of Liverpool being without Lucas for the start of the season moved a step closer after he was called up for an Olympics warm-up game.

The Brazilian’s absence has been on the cards since he was named in an initial preliminary squad of 74 and his latest call-up for a friendly on June 22 only heightens his chances of making the final cut.

The tournament coincides with the start of the Premier League season and could keep players away from their clubs for more than two weeks – which leaves Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez with a midfield dilemma. He is confident of landing Gareth Barry once a fee has been agreed for the England man with Aston Villa – but losing Lucas, Javier Mascherano and Ryan Babel at once could leave him short of reinforcements.

Especially as Xabi Alonso has admitted his interest in a move to Juventus days after his agent declared the clubs were close to agreeing on their valuation of the player.

Benitez still hopes that Mascherano doesn’t feel obliged to answer any call from Argentina and will discuss the issue with him when he returns for pre-season next month. Mascherano, who was 24 yesterday, is wanted as an over-age player as he looks to repeat the gold medal victory he enjoyed in Athens in 2004. But clubs are powerless to prevent players who qualify directly for the under-23s going on international duty. In the case of Babel, while he is wanted by Holland, Benitez will be keen to ensure he has fully recovered from the ankle ligament damage that is keeping him out of Euro 2008, before releasing him for any competitive action.

Lucas has, however, already signalled his determination to join up with Brazil in Beijing.

“Hopefully I will be picked,” he said. “That would mean I would start the pre-season here with Liverpool and then later on I would go to the Olympics. I need to wait for the squad to be picked but hopefully I will go.

“I know that would mean me missing some games for Liverpool and that is not good, but when you talk about your country you always want to play for them.

“And for Brazil the Olympics is like the World Cup because Brazil has never won the gold medal.

“It is also important for my future as an international player because the World Cup qualifiers are coming up and obviously I would like to be in the squad for those.

“So now I need to think about the Olympics and I will speak with Rafa about this.”

Manchester United’s Anderson is also among 12 overseas-based players named by Dunga to play in the warm-up game.

Brazil are yet to announce an opponent or venue, but that did not stop Dunga releasing an initial squad following Friday night’s shock 2-0 loss to Venezuela in Foxborough in the USA.

No comments: