Goal-hungry Jo dreaming of World Cup

Atletico Mineiro striker Jo hopes continuing his goalscoring form can earn him a spot in Brazil’s squad at the FIFA World Cup.

Jo has 15 caps for his country and has scored five times, and the former Manchester City man featured off the bench in Brazil’s 5-0 win over South Africa on March 5.

The 26-year-old has gone 286 minutes without a goal for Brazil, dating back to his effort in a 3-1 victory against Portugal in September last year.

Despite that, Jo has been in good form for Mineiro with six goals in his past eight matches, and he hopes maintaining that will see him feature at Brazil 2014.

“My motivation is very high right now. Like I always say, it’s a personal dream and I started this year scoring goals,” he said.

“Now I need to keep up these performances and wait the final calling to have the chance to play the World Cup at home.”

Jo and his Mineiro team are preparing for Wednesday’s Copa Libertadores clash against Nacional Asuncion.

The Brazilians sit atop Group Four on seven points, three points clear of the other teams, and Jo said it was a key stage of the competition.

“Now is the crucial moment but I believe that (Mineiro coach) Paulo Autuori is being clever doing this rotation of players to give confidence to everybody and have the squad ready to play,” Jo said ahead of his team’s fourth match of the group stage.

“He’s being very happy doing this and everybody is playing at the same level.”