Tite Calls Up Liverpool Trio to Brazil National Squad

Last season, with the departure of Philippe Coutinho, the Brazilian contingent for board game night on Merseyside felt a bit light. Come the end of last January, Roberto Firmino was the sole representative from the Land of Footballing Giants. With the signings of Alisson Becker and Fabinho this summer, that contingent has been re-stocked and is healthy.

And as is the case when a top-flight team like Liverpool FC signs top-flight players, international call-ups and responsibility emerge. Today, the club have reported that Brazil’s gaffer, Tite, has called up Roberto Firmino, Alisson Becker, and Fabinho for the slate of September matchups during the first international break. Brazil’s matches are scheduled to be held on September 7th in New Jersey and on September 14th in Washington, so Reds in the area might want to make travel plans now if they’d like to support their heroes in a different sporting context.

The call-ups aren’t exactly surprising for Firmino or Becker: both were part of Tite’s World Cup selection this past year. Alisson is Brazil’s first-choice goalkeeper and fans watching the Brazil’s performances in the tournament often heralded Roberto Firmino as being central to everything good happening for the Saleção. The latter point being an obvious occurrence if you managed to poll Reds fans who witnessed Bobby’s unique mix of skill, spacing, vision, and work rate all season long.

Fabinho, though, has not appeared for Brazil since Tite has taken the reigns of the national team, marking this as an opportunity to impress and hopefully earn a spot ahead of the 2019 Copa America. Brazil is hosting that tournament this year, leaving perhaps a little bit of extra incentive to make the national squad.

All told, it’s a hearty round of congratulations to the three Liverpool players as they go to represent their country. All hopes, of course, to a successful and healthy set of appearances before returning to Merseyside in search of Premier League glory.