Brazil in the World Cup 2010

Brazil will play against North Korea on June 15th 2010, in Johannesburg; that will be the first match of Brazil in the World Cup 2010.

This will be the first time that Brazil will face North Korea. North Korea is a very closed communist country (the North Korean Government announced that the World Cup will be censored, and only images favorable to the country will be aired – which means that it is likely that the Cup will not exist for Korean citizens), and very seldom performs in non-official matches.

Coincidentally, Brazil is one of the countries in the world which best knows the football in North Korea. There is a team, currently disputing the Second Division in Sao Paulo, called Clube Atletico Sorocaba; in 2000, Atletico Sorocaba was purchased by Reverend Moon, a controversial religious leader born in Korea. Thanks to these connections, Atletico Sorocaba played a friendly match against the North Korea national team in November of 2009, which finished 0 x 0.

North Korea played in only one Cup, in England 1966; in that Cup, Korea lost to Soviet Union, tied with Chile and got past the groups stage by winning Italy; in the quarter-finals, Korea lost to Portugal by 3 x 5, after being leading by 3 x 0.

Coach Dunga said in an interview that North Korea being unknown shall be a reason of concern, not of oblivion; besides the surprising role in England 1966, Korea surprised also by winning Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Qualifying, and by winning recent FIFA World Cups for Young Women.

However, nobody in Brazil thinks of anything but a victory over Korea. Brazil hope (but many Brazilians don’t expect) that Portugal win Ivory Coast in the first round, Brazil win Ivory Coast in the second round, so that Brazil vs Portugal can be just a friendly match.

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).

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.