5 Brazilian wildcards who could play their way into World Cup contention

By now, Luiz Felipe Scolari has already identified most of the players who – barring injury or a drastic loss of form – will represent Brazil at next summer’s World Cup. The base of the squad that performed so well at the Confederations Cup will be maintained, with Felipão thought to have 17 or 18 names in mind even at this early stage.

Yet there remain places to be won. Here are five players who could be dark horses for Scolari’s squad based on their performances in Brazil:

Marcos Rocha

While Daniel Alves is certain to be Brazil’s starting right-back, Scolari has yet to settle on a back-up. Maicon did well in the friendlies against Australia and Portugal but is a touch fragile these days, while Rafael seems destined to miss out.

Marcos Rocha of Atlético Mineiro could just crash the party. Lithe and nippy, he is an attacking full-back in the Brazilian tradition, a fact underlined by the stats: only Josué has made more than his 892 passes for the Galothis season, while 107 accurate long balls is also very impressive.

His all-action approach does have its down side, however: no team-mate has committed more fouls than his 64, and two red cards allude to his occasional rashness. Yet if Marcos can reproduce the kind of effervescent displays he did during Atlético’s Copa Libertadores run he will be hard to ignore next year.