Seven years ago the Brazilian Football Confederation took up the project of forming a dream team for the World Cup that would take place in their country for the second time after 1950. The project marked out a number of young players who will be matured enough to don the coveted yellow and green jersey by the time the World Cup comes around in 2014. But unfortunately none of the players, dubbed extremely talented, lived up to their reputation as the hosts were humiliated 7-1 by Germany in the semifinals.
Bruno Fernandes de Souza, better known as Bruno the goalkeeper, arrived as a promising 20-year old Brazilian goalkeeper with superb saving skills back in 2005, when he was playing for Atletico Mineiro. Bruno went on to play for Corinthians and Flamengo and was well and truly on his way to wearing the number 1 shirt. But in July 2010, along with several other charges, he was convicted for the murder of Eliza Samudio, the mother of his youngest child. He was subsequently sentenced to a 22-year jail term and for the best part of the last four years he was and still is behind bars.
Breno Borges was touted as a potentially great defender and his entrance in the national football team was ensured in 2007 at the young age of 17. He was one of the major players at Sao Paulo FC and went to Bayern Munich and earned a lot of money and fame. After a few years in Germany Breno was lost under the radar due to injuries and accusations of burning down his own house as a result of which he was arrested and spent several days in jail.
Brazil also pinned their hopes on the Da Silva twins, Rafael and Fabio. Both of them displayed admirable splashes of talents while playing for the Brazilian youth teams. Even though rightback Rafael signed for Manchester United, he has never managed to establish himself as the first choice in Brazil while fullback Fabio has gradually lost his touch after a couple of appearances for the national side. Fabio is currently playing for English Championship side Cardiff City.
Anderson was dubbed as the new Ronaldinho and was initially looking good at Manchester United. But he too lost his touch and is employed at Fiorentina on loan although he has only played seven games.
Midfielder Diego was an efficient forward and featured for major clubs in Europe such as Atletico Madrid, Juventus and Porto and was starting to curve out a successful career in Germany with Wolfsburg and Werder Bremen but never achieved great results with the national team.
Daniel Carvalho was also a bright prospect and was a candidate for the number 10 shirt for his superb scoring skills but indiscipline and problems with weight saw the player lose his ground. Nowadays he plays futsal after saying goodbye to professional football.
Adriano, the successor to Ronaldo, had shone brief moments of brilliance. In 2006 he was considered one of the best strikers in the world but has since changed five clubs, undergone several disciplinary problems, completely lost his form and is now unemployed.
For the last five years Alexandre Pato has been playing in Europe but was astonishingly below par as per his ability. After sustaining countless injuries he had to return to Brazil. Now refused by Corinthians, he is trying to rebuild his career at Sao Paulo.
It is also said that Ronaldinho, Kaka and Robinho did not fulfill their promises like Andrea Pirlo, Miroslav Klose and Frank Lampard, who are all older than the Brazilian trio but have kept themselves fit and committed to the cause.