Brazil in the World Cup 2010

Brazil and Portugal will play on June 25nd 2010 in Durban. This is going to be third match of each team in the World Cup 2010 (sooner, they both will play against North Korea and Ivory Coast – see groups here).

Brazil and Portugal have faced each other in 18 matches (only 11 countries have more matches against Brazil than Portugal; England, with 23 matches, is the only European country in that list). Brazil won 12 matches, Portugal won 4, and there were 2 draws; Brazil scored 36 goals, Portugal scored 15.

In World Cups, there was only one match, in England 1966. The records of the match are here. The match was in Liverpool on July 19th 1966; the ticket costed £ 2.2, or about US$ 3.5 (in South Africa, a ticket for the eighth finals would cost at least US$ 100; check out prices of tickets of the World Cup 2010). After beating Brazil, Portugal faced and won North Korea, which was then playing their first and only World Cup.

Brazil was then defending champion, but the team was resenting the retirement of the generation which won in 1962 (which was basically the same team which had won in 1958 – older, though) and the new generation which would win in 1970.

Portugal had then Eusébio, considered until today the best Portuguese player ever and one of the best European players. Brazil had Pelé, but he had been injured in previous matches, and still had to face the violence of Portuguese defense.

Despite this defeat (and despite the three centuries of Metropolis-Colony relationship), Brazilians never had a feeling of rivalry towards the Portuguese (as we have, for example, with Argentina, Uruguay and, lately, France).

Several Brazilian players have not only moved to Portugal, but also adopted Portuguese nationality; currently, three Brazilian born players, Deco, Liedson and Pepe, are principals in the Portugal team (which led Brazilian coach Dunga to say that Portugal is a kind of Brazil B – to which Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz responded that Brazil would be a Portugal C or D, given that most Brazilian players have Portuguese ancestry).

In the last World Cup, Portugal was coached by Luis Felipe Scollari, who had been champion with Brazil in 2002. After Brazil was eliminated by France, all Brazilians sided with Portugal (which would also be eliminated by France).

In the last match, in November 2008 in Brazil, we won easily by 6 x 2.

In 2010, Portugal will have the additional advantage of having more support in the stadium (500,000 Portuguese live in South Africa).

Yesterday, Flamengo became champion of the Brazilian league 2009, after beating Gremio in Maracanã.

Flamengo finished with 67 points; Internacional came second, with 65 points, followed by Sao Paulo (65), Cruzeiro and Palmeiras (both with 62 points).

Which players of these teams (or any other Brazilian team) could be present in the World Cup 2010? Very few.

The team of champion Flamengo in the final match was: Bruno, Léo Moura, David, Ronaldo Angelim and Juan; Airton, Toró (Everton), Willians and Petkovic (Fierro); Zé Roberto (Kléberson) and Adriano. Goals were scored by David and Ronaldo Angelim. Juan and Zé Roberto are not the same ones who played in Germany 2006; Kléberson is the same one who was champion in Japan Korea 2002.

The main stars of Flamengo were: Petkovic, aged 37, national from Serbia (which is not going to South Africa – ops, sorry, as a commentator correctly pointed, Serbians are going to SA); and Adriano, who played in Germany, but didn’t perform as expected (Adriano has chances of going to South Africa, but his direct competitors, Luis Fabiano and Nilmar, are doing just fine).

Adriano was the main striker of the championship, with 19 goals; he finished tied with Diego Tardelli (who also had brief passages in the National Team), from Atletico Mineiro.

In runner-up Internacional, the main player in the first half of the tournament was Nilmar, who was eventually transferred to Villareal, in Spain. In Sao Paulo FC, who was coming from a streak of three years in a row championship, highlights were Dagoberto, Hernanes (with brief recent passages in the National Team) and Washington, center forward who had heart problems a few years back and now seems fully recovered – but doesn’t stand any chance of being rostered for 2010.

In Palmeiras, the goalkeeper is still Marcos, one of the main responsibles (yet little recognized) for the championship in 2002. Other than him, Palmeiras had Diego Souza, who scored the most beautiful goal of 2009.

So, the Brazilian team of 2010 still relies heavily on players who perform in Europe.

Today, FIFA conducted the final draw to determine the groups in the first stage of the World Cup 2010.

Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic, Greece
Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia
Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana,
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
Group G: Brazil, North Korea, Côte d’Ivoire, Portugal
Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile

Brazil is seed of group G. The Brazilian Confederation is happy: if Brazil reaches the final match, four of the seven matches will be played in Johannesburg; so, the team will have to displace less often across host cities, and will have more time for training.

Brazil will play the first match against North Korea on June 15th 2010 in Johannesburg, then Cote d’Ivoire on June 20th again in Johannesburg, and Portugal on June 25th in Durban.

If Brazil finishes first of group G, then will play against the second of group H again in Johannesburg on June 28th; if Brazil finishes second, will play against the first of group H in Cape Town on June 29th.

Brazil has never played against North Korea and Cote d’Ivoire (considering only adult male teams). Brazil played several times against Portugal, including one match in the World Cup 1966, which Portugal won by 3×1.

The South America Qualifyings for the World Cup 2010 finished this past weekend.

Brazil finished the Qualifying in first place (with 34 points), followed by Chile, Paraguay and Argentina (see full table here); these four countries are qualified for the 2010 World Cup. Uruguay, who finished fifth, will face a play-off against Costa Rica, the winner also being qualified to the Cup.

Brazil played the last match against Venezuela, in Campo Grande, in a 0 x 0 draw. Brazil had already secured presence in the Cup by beating Argentina a few weeks ago. Coach Dunga used the two last matches to experiment with new players.

The most dramatic situation was Argentina’s. Los hermanos had to win two tough matches to go to the Cup. First, they faced Peru; at 85 minutes, Peru scored a goal to equalize the score; only with a goal at 92 minutes, with Palermo in off-side position (that the referee overlooked), could Argentina add two extremely valuable points to their tab.

The video below shows Palermo’s goal. Notice that there is a Peruvian player between Palermo and the goal line, but the goal keeper is not there; so, as there is not at least two adversaries between him and the goal, Palermo was off-side.

Thanks to those two extra points, Argentina had one leading point when playing the final match, against Uruguay; Uruguay had to win to qualify. Instead, Argentina won by 1 x 0, much to the relief of coach Maradona.

Does that mean that Brazil is a favorite and Argentina an underdog for the 2010 Cup? Probably not.

Both in1994 and 2002, the Brazilian team left for the Cup without much hope of winning, and ended up being the Champion; on the other hand, Brazil was THE team to beat in 2006, and the campaign was one of the biggest fiascos in Brazilian history.

That’s what the Argentinians are hoping for. In 2002, much like Brazil in 2006, Argentina had a constelation of stellar players, including Verón, Riquelme, Batistuta, Sorin, Ortega, which some (including Time) considered favorite to win the Cup, but didn’t get past the first stage. Argentinians and Brazilians know that, leaving to the Cup with a low profile (and less pressure), there are good chances that the team performs well.

The schedule of matches for the World Cup 2010 in South Africa is already defined.

A final draw to take place on Dec. 4th 2009 will define the distribution of the teams across 8 groups. From June 11th to June 25th 2009, the 32 qualified teams will play the Group Matches, each country playing against the three other countries within the same group.

The distribution of matches will follow the same system adopted in the 2006 Germany World Cup: the six matches of each group will take place in six stadia in six different host cities (Brazil, for example, played matches of the Group Matches in Berlin, Munich and Dortmunt).

In South Africa, the first round of Group A (red squares) will see matches in Johannesburg and Cape Town, second round in Pretoria and Polokwane, third round in Rustenburg and Bloemfountain. Likewise, all teams of all groups will have to travel all across the country to play their matches.

It will be interesting to notice whether FIFA will use this same system in the Worl Cup 2014, in Brazil.

While the distance between Cape Town and Polokwane is about 1,700 km (a bit more than 1,000 miles), the distance between Manaus and Porto Alegre is more than 3,100 km (or nearly 2,000 miles); see map of the host cities in Brazil.

It will not be so easy to use this same system in Brazil, given the large distances involved. Travelling more often and farther can be a disadvantage (one of the reasons why Brazil had a bad performance in the 1938 World Cup was the excess of travel between matches).

Let’s see what FIFA will decide.

Tickets can be purchased for selected matches or by a set of  Team Specific matches (TSTS).Read how to buy tickets for the World Cup 2010.

Below, the official prices of tickets (sold by FIFA), in Rands and in US dollars, for matches of the World Cup 2010.

Notice that FIFA used a conversion rate of US$ 1 = R 7; this rate may change, so can the prices.

South Africans will pay the same price as international citizens. The privilege of South Africans is an exclusivity to buy tickets  of Category 4, considerably cheaper than the others.

Category of tickets refer to the position in the stadia. Category 1 have the best viewing point, and Category 4 have the worst.

Category 1 are generally located in the straight section between the two goal lines or the pitch.
Category 2 are generally located adjacent to Category 1.
Category 3 are generally located behind the goals or in one of the corners.
Category 4 are generally located behind the goals or in one of the corners.

Below, prices of the TSTS (Team Specific Ticket Prices), in Rands and in dollars (Category 4 are sold in Rands only).

Brazil won Argentina today and became the first team in South America to qualify to the finals of the World Cup 2010.

Brazil won easily by 3×1. By request of Maradona, the match happened in Rosario (the same venue where Brazil and Argentina tied a match in the World Cup 1978, which Argentina eventually won), in a stadium smaller than the ones of the capital Buenos Aires; Maradona intented to put more pressure on the Brazilian team, by having the crowd nearer to the Brazilian players.

Brazil qualified to the finals of the World Cup with three rounds yet to go; this is the best performance of the Brazilian team in more than twenty years. Argentina will have to struggle hard and win their three remaining matches, to secure a place in South Africa.

The Brazilian team:Júlio César; Maicon, Luisão, Lúcio and André Santos; Gilberto Silva, Felipe Melo, Elano (Daniel Alves) and Kaká; Robinho (Ramires) and Luís Fabiano (Adriano).
Coach: Dunga.

The early qualification should provide for a tranquil preparation until the World Cup. Besides this good campaign in the Qualifiers, the Brazilian team under the command of Dunga won the Confederations Cup last June and had won the America Cup in 2007. So far, so good.