Group F

BRAZIL

Brazil was always known for its creative football. The sights of skillful players like Pele, Garrincha, Leonidas, Rivelino, Zico and Socrates dancing down the field almost with a Samba rhythm were really enchanting. But Brazil’s exuberant attacking players who used to scintillate past World Cups are no more there. They have been replaced by the bone-crunching tackle of a new breed of midfield hard-men.Brazilian football has become one among the most violent in the world in the last decade with an astonishing average of around 55 fouls per game in domestic matches. 

The uninterrupted supply of creative players has dried up, so much so that Romario, who spearheaded Brazil's 1994 World Cup-winning campaign, is regarded the country's most gifted player at the age of 35.It is not as if Brazil does not have representatives of the old school in the likes of Juninho Paulista and Deporitvo Coruna's Djalminha.  But they don’t seem to fit in with the game plan of the Coach Scolari, just as it was with his immediate predecessors.

The only country to have taken part in all 18 World Cups, Brazi will be going into the 2006 World Cup with their confidence sky-high.The unseemly goings-on in the Brazilian Football Confedertion (CBF) have not helped the team. During the qualifiers, the CBF lost count of the number of yellow cards itsplayers had picked up, called up players who were already injured and kept getting confused over FIFA regulations on the release of players by European clubs. 

Brazil’s domestic football is in a chaotic state with a plethora of incomprehensible tournaments. Attendance has plummeted and there is a study exodus of the top players abroad, to greener pastures.But the general public is aware that there is something wrong. The outcry was so great that two Congressional commissions of inquiry were set up last year to investigate suspected maladministration and corruption. 

Both of the commissions found evidence of chronic maladministration and misuse of funds, by the CBF, often for political purposes. 

Players to watch out for:  The four ‘R’s: Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Robinho, Roberto Carlos

Star Players

Adriano, Robinho, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Kaka

World Cup Squad Brazil