“Lodi was excluded for not vaccinating him. He lost the opportunity to compete for a position,” Tite, who brought back Dani Alves and Philippe Coutinho to his squad on Thursday, told reporters.
The Brazilian national team coordinator Juninho Paulista said that the defender received the first dose of the vaccine on January 10, so he will not be allowed to travel to Ecuador for a match on the 27th of this month, before facing Paraguay 5 days later.
Juninho added that Ecuador requires a full vaccination to enter the country.
Lodi is currently in Saudi Arabia with his team, which faces Athletic Bilbao, on Thursday, in the semi-finals of the Spanish Super Cup.
Brazil has already qualified for the finals in Qatar, and leads the South American qualifiers with 5 matches remaining.
Neymar was also left out of the squad due to an ankle injury, while Alves, who played in official matches with Barcelona last week, returned to the national team for the first time since he left Sao Paulo last September.
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