World Cup preview: Brazil
Coach: Dunga
Key player: Luís Fabiano
Previous best: Winners 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 & 2002
Brazil have played at every single World Cup tournament. They’ve reached seven finals, winning five. They haven’t failed to get past the first round since England in 1966, and they are back again with a vastly talented squad full of world class performers. Scared? You should be.
Kaká, Robinho, Luís Fabiano, Maicon, Lucio, the names trip off the tongue, but they are not joined by that of Ronaldinho.
The former World Player of the Year might be featuring on the adverts for the World Cup, but he’s not going to be there. Patchy form and fitness problems at AC Milan have cost him his place in Dunga’s side, with the coach – a World Cup winning captain in 1994 – instead preferring stronger, fitter players who will get around the pitch more.
Players like Juventus’ Felipe Melo, Ramires of Benfica and, yes Manchester United fans, Kléberson, these days to be found back in Brazil with Flamengo.
It is a Brazilian squad with an emphasis that is more on functionality than flair, but of course there is still room for the fantasy players.
Kaká didn’t have a stellar season at Real Madrid after his £56million move from AC Milan, but few can doubt his dynamism and quality, particularly in the final third, while Robinho will be a danger if he decides that he wants to perform on the biggest stage of all. He surely will do, there may be another money-spinning European transfer resting on it, but you never quite know with the enigmatic forward.
Luís Fabiano will score goals, just as he did in last summer’s Confederations Cup win in South Africa, and the Sevilla forward may well enter the tournament with an eye on impressing the several scouts who are sure to be watching him. A genuine out-and-out goalscorer, he doesn’t need many chances to find the net, and his clinical finishing could be what fires the Brazilians to a sixth title.
Goalkeeper Júlio César of European champions Inter Milan has established himself as one of the best shotstoppers in world football, while in Maicon and Daniel Alves, Brazil possess probably the best two right backs in the world, with all signs pointing to Dunga selecting the former – also, like captain Lúcio, of Inter – as his first choice, but that selection dilemma underlines just how much quality the coach has in his Seleção.
That Confederations Cup success last year, where Brazil came back from 2-0 down to beat the USA in the final, will have acclimatised them to South African conditions, with the argument about how this “winter World Cup” won’t favour South Americans holding little water due to the fact that all but three of the Brazil squad play in Europe.
Those expecting the old fashioned, free-flowing Brazil may be in for a disappointment, but just because they play in the famous golden shirts doesn’t mean that they should neglect their defence, something that Dunga has quickly understood during his four years in the hot seat.
His approach hasn’t always been met with the wildest acclaim, but that isn’t to say that Brazil are defensive these days, just different.
It is a difference that could well guide them to yet another crown.
The world will expect at least the semi-finals, but the country expects to win it.
Brazil squad
1 JÚLIO CÉSAR (Inter Milan)
2 MAICON (Inter Milan)
3 LÚCIO (Inter Milan)
4 JUAN (AS Roma)
5 FELIPE MELO (Fiorentina)
6 Michel BASTOS (Olympique Lyon)
7 ELANO (Galatasaray)
8 GILBERTO SILVA (Panathinaikos)
9 Luís FABIANO (Sevilla)
10 KAKÁ (Real Madrid)
11 ROBINHO (Santos)
12 Heurelho GOMES (Tottenham Hotspur)
13 Daniel ALVES (Barcelona)
14 LUISÃO (Benfica)
15 THIAGO SILVA (AC Milan)
16 GILBERTO (Cruzeiro)
17 JOSUÉ (VfL Wolfsburg)
18 RAMIRES (Benfica)
19 Júlio BAPTISTA (Roma)
20 KLÉBERSON (Flamengo)
21 GRAFITE (VfL Wolfsburg)
22 NILMAR (Villarreal)
23 DONI (AS Roma)
For previews of Brazil's Group G opponents click here:
http://www.senore.com/World-Cup-2010-preview-Ivory-Coast-a12470
http://www.senore.com/World-Cup-2010-preview-North-Korea-a12471
http://www.senore.com/World-Cup-2010-preview-Portugal-a12472
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