I don’t think there has been an edition of the World cup where the Seleção of Brazil have not been considered the favourites. This time will be no different; they will be coming as potential winners if their performance at the confederations cup last year is anything to go by. Currently ranked number one in the world by FIFA, they are the most successful national team in world football and are the only team to have participated in every World cup. The coach of this talented bunch is 46 year old, Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri, popularly known as Dunga. A veteran of 3 world cups and a winner in 1994, he knows all too well what is expected of the team and will go all out to get it. It’s a difficult job to have knowing that anything other than the trophy itself is considered a failure. This Brazilian team under him is more balanced than others of recent. They have real quality in all positions including the defence, which is sort of a rarity with them and if there is a weak point in this team, it’s in the number of quality strikers they have, another rarity in itself. Their last triumph was in 2002 and the fans back home are hungry to see the trophy again, thus this team has to do something to feed this hunger. They failed to flatter in 2006 and lost out in the quarterfinal to eventual finalists France. Grouped with Portugal, Ivory Coast and North Korea they will have to play their best football from the start to qualify for the 2nd round or suffer the rage of the fans.
Their performance at the qualifiers was not as good as expected but was just enough to top the round robin table of all 10 South American teams. They won just 2 of their first 5 games and this did not go down well with every one back home, they demanded more and the team responded well to their demands. They went on an impressive run of 11 games without loss from June 2008 to September 2009 and booked their World cup ticket with a convincing victory over Argentina in Rosario (Argentina) putting a smile back on many Brazilian faces. Luckily this was enough to collect top spot in this qualifying zone as it was their last win of the campaign.
This new disciplined style Dunga brought to the team was evident in their goals statistics scoring 33 and conceding 11, that’s an average of about scoring 2 a game and conceding less than 1 a game. Very unlike the Brazilian teams of old that paid less attention to defence and relied on their attacking abilities to outscore the opponents. In the middle of this qualification campaign(June 2009), they flew down to South Africa for the confederations cup as South American Champions to trade tackles with the best of the rest. They breezed into the finals after winning all of their games against Egypt, USA, Italy and host South Africa. Some wins more convincing than others but they all count. They showed resilience and strength of character coming from two goals down to beat the conquerors of the then number one ranked team in the world Spain in the finals. All in all it seems Dunga has built a disciplined unit ready to play football, maybe not with the flair usually expected from the samba boys (joga bonito) but effective football that wins trophies, the type that thrives in modern day football.
This team has players to watch out for in every position on the pitch. From the post we have Julio Cesar, the inter Milan shot stopper has been exceptional all season for his club side and can be relied on to come up with the goods no matter what the stakes are. He is considered one of the best in the world and proves this for both club and country every time he is called upon. In defence the energetic Lucio who is also the team captain has been on form all season for inter and has chipped in with a few goals. He is playing some of the best football of his career at the moment and is expected to continue this in South Africa. In midfield the shining light is Real Madrid’s kaka. He has suffered a number of injuries this season but still performed admirably when given the chance. He is always a top performer adorning the Verde-Amarelao of the Seleção and a player for the big occasion. He surely is one of the main players to look out for in South Africa and I’m sure the fans are itching to see more of what he showed them in the confederations cup last year. Up front we have Luis Fabiano. Now 30 years old, he had to endure a long time in the shadows of great Brazilian strikers of the past. Now his time has come to step up to the plate and he has carried on where they left off. Top scorer in qualifying, top scorer in the confederations cup for Brazil as well as top scorer for Seville in the 2009/2010 season scoring 21 goals in 34 games, he will be looking to add “top scorer at the world cup” to his CV. His style of play favours Dunga’s style of one striker flanked by wingers, whoever they will be we are sure of a few goals from him.
Dunga’s method of player selection has surprised many. He did not just pick the best of them playing in the top clubs in Europe and Brazil; he selected effective, disciplined players from all over the world and in effect made a sort of balance among the superstars and the not so popular players. He recently released his team of 23 to go to the world cup and still surprised many by dropping the likes of Adriano, Ronaldinho and Marcelo sticking to his principles, picking the players like Graffite and Bastos.
My Verdict: the Brazilian side is a complete one in all departments and will qualify from this group most likely as eventual winners of the group. I predict they will make it all the way to the semifinals also. These are just my thoughts; but if they do not get their game right in what is regarded as the group of death, they most likely will be on an early plane back home. They begin their campaign on the 16th of June in Ellis Park against the North Koreans which should be a mauling to say the least. Below is the 23 man list recently released by Dunga for the World Cup.
Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), Doni (Roma), Gomes (Tottenham Hostpur)
Defenders: Maicon (Inter Milan), Dani Alves (Barcelona), Gilberto (Cruzeiro), Michel Bastos (Lyon) Lucio (Inter Milan), Luisão (Benfica), Juan (Roma), Thiago Silva (Milan)
Midfielders: Felipe Melo (Juventus), Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos), Josué (Wolfsburg), Kaká (Real Madrid), Kleberson (Flamengo), Elano (Galatassaray), Ramires (Benfica), Julio Baptista (Roma)
Forwards: Robinho (Santos), Luis Fabiano (Sevilla), Nilmar (Villareal), Grafitte (Wolfsburg)
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