Brazil coach wary of Falcao threat

Rio de Janeiro - Brazil coach Mano Menezes says his team will be wary of the threat posed by Colombia striker Radamel Falcao when the teams meet in an international friendly in November.

Falcao, 26, is one of the in-form strikers in Europe with 13 goals from nine matches for Spain’s Atletico Madrid this season, reports Xinhua.

Menezes warned that his team needs to pay special attention to the centre-forward during the Nov 14 duel in New Jersey.

“He has had a great season, he tends to drift out of his position and this makes Colombia a much more dangerous team,” Menezes said during a press conference to announce the Brazil squad.

Menezes says Colombia will provide his young team with one of its sternest tests to date as it prepares for next year’s Confederations Cup.

Jose Pekerman’s team has won five of its first eight World Cup qualifiers to sit third in the South America zone standings behind Argentina and Ecuador.

“Colombia has had a great qualifying campaign and it will be a good test for us to know where we are now. It should be one of the toughest games of the year.

“They have a touch of Argentina about them,” Menezes added in reference to the influence of Argentine coach Pekerman. “They had a lot of quality before, even compared to us, but they did not have much tactical knowledge. Now they do.”

Brazil squad:

Goalkeepers: Diego Alves (Valencia), Jefferson (Botafogo).

Defenders: Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Thiago Silva (Paris Saint Germain), David Luiz (Chelsea), Leandro Castan (Roma), Rever (Atletico Mineiro), Adriano (Barcelona), Fabio Santos (Corinthians).

Midfielders: Paulinho (Corinthians), Sandro (Tottenham Hotspur), Ramires (Chelsea), Arouca (Santos), Kaka (Real Madrid), Giuliano (FC Dnipro), Lucas (Sao Paulo), Hulk (Zenit St Petersburg), Oscar (Chelsea).

Strikers: Neymar (Santos), Leandro Damiao (Internacional), Thiago Neves (Fluminense).