Alves to captain Brazil

Dani Alves will captain Brazil in tonight’s World Cup qualifier against Colombia, coach Tite has confirmed.

Miranda captained the side in Thursday’s victory over Ecuador and Tite’s decision to pass the armband on to Dani Alves confirms the coach’s promise to rotate the captaincy, as he did at Corinthians last year.

Former captain Neymar stated his desire to step down as skipper after leading Brazil to Olympic gold last month and, rather than appoint a new regular captain, Tite insisted he would pass the honour around a squad ‘full of leaders’.

 “There are various leaders in the group and each has their own spirit,” Dani Alves told a press conference.

 “I do not think that there is a great importance in being captain, though it is a great honour to represent this team with the armband. I believe the group needs a little bit of leadership from everyone, and we certainly have that.”

33-year-old Dani Alves will make his 96th cap for his country this week as Tite confirmed he will retain the line-up that brought him a debut victory last week.