Scolari 'proud of the Chinese Super League' after Paulinho's hat-trick
Luiz Felipe Scolari and Paulinho are two of the faces from Brazil's humiliation at the 2014 World Cup. The manager oversaw the 7-1 evisceration, while the midfielder played the second half of it. Whether they lost sleep over the result is unknown, but both fled to China in 2015, perhaps looking to escape things for a bit.
Paulinho surely couldn't have imagined how Brazilian football would become impacted by the Chinese Super League when he decided to join Guangzhou Evergrande, and in a twist of fate, his move to China is responsible, to an extent, for his return to the Selecao.
Three players from the Chinese Super League were called up to Brazil's squad for its 2018 World Cup qualifiers in March: Paulinho, Gil, and Renato Augusto. Chinese football's relative lack of global visibility once meant players who moved to East Asia were unlikely to be selected for international duty, but it's clearly becoming a place where the Selecao's coaches are paying more and more attention.
As for Scolari, who's managing Paulinho at Guangzhou Evergrande, he was all smiles after the midfielder remarkably tallied a hat-trick in Brazil's 4-1 victory away to Uruguay in 2018 World Cup qualifying on Thursday.
"There are two reasons why I'm happy tonight," Scolari said, according to ESPN FC. "One is that China won the match against South Korea and the other is that Paulinho scored a hat-trick for the Brazil national team. Paulinho was not in the national team list, but he fought his way back. That is why I am very proud of the Chinese Super League. You see Paulinho, Renato Augusto, and Gil have all gone back to the national team.
"So it is wrong to say the CSL is for players who have come to the end of their career. The CSL has showed it is competitive and it is able to give players the chance to play for their country again."
Paulhino's resurgence is one of the biggest stories of Brazil's 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign. Only Neymar can claim to have scored more goals for the Selecao in the two-year marathon.