by Luca Ranocchiari - Futsalplanet.com editor

A great 2011 opening for futsal fans. While UEFA will celebrate the preliminary round of the Croatia 2012 qualifiers, the best nations will check their conditions in some extremely interesting friendly matches. That's surely the case of the double challenge between Russia and Brazil, scheduled to take place on next January 17th in Ekaterinburg and 19th in Tyumen. Due to this reason the national team head coach Marcos Sorato Zopelini, universally known as "Pipoca" has announced today his roster for the russian trip, entirely relying on players involved in the russian and spanish leagues, with the only exception of Neto who just moved from Malwee to the recently born Santos/Cortiana as well as Falcao and Ferretti. It's also interesting to underline the first cap for Betão since the Pipoca's appointment as head coach of Brazil. Another interesting market news that we advanced in September is the transfer to Russia of the former Malwee's goalie Tiago (read our report: click here). Below have a look at the brazilian roster for both games in Russia.


Brazilian National Team - Players List

Goalkeepers
Cidão (Caja Segovia - SPAIN)
Tiago (Gazprom Ugra - RUSSIA)

Fixos/Defenders
Neto (Santos/Cortiana)
Rato (Xacobeo Lobelle de Santiago - SPAIN)

Alas/Flanks
Fernandinho (Dinamo Moscow - RUSSIA)
Vinícius (ElPozo Murcia - SPAIN)
Xuxa (MFK Tyumen - RUSSIA)
Gabriel (Inter Movistar - SPAIN)
Igor (Barcelona Alusport - SPAIN)

Pivots
Wilde (Barcelona Alusport - SPAIN)
Betão (Inter Movistar - SPAIN)
Lukaian (Gazprom Ugra - RUSSIA)

Head Coach: Marcos Sorato Zopelini "Pipoca"
Assistant Coach: Vander Iacovino