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A few days ago, the US Government issued a generic warning about terrorism acts during World Cup 2010 (see BBC and Telegraph).

NEFA is an organization (the name stands for Nine Eleven Finding Answers Foundation) whose state goal is “to help prevent future tragedies in the U.S. and abroad by exposing those responsible for planning, funding, and executing terrorist activities, with a particular emphasis on Islamic militant organizations”.

According to some news sources (such as here, here and here), a director of NEFA declared that there is a high risk of a terrorist attack during the World Cup in South Africa.

I believe there is an 80 per cent chance of an attack, he said.

The former analyst for the Dutch Ministry of Defence, provided details o three training camps in Mozambique run by Somalis, Pakistanis, Indians and Bangladeshis.

Sandee had earlier told the US Congress that numerous references had been made in closed frequency radio broadcasts and telephone intercepts.

South Africa was quick to deny the threat.

“As far as we’re concerned there are no threats that we have identified which are linked to the World Cup,” spokesman Brian Dube told AFP.

“No country is immune to these things, that’s why we say we’ll continue to be vigilant. But really there isn’t any threat to the World Cup itself.”

The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS) which is coordinating World Cup security, also dismissed the article, saying it was “riddled with inaccuracies” and that it mostly relied on unnamed sources.

Like South Africa, Brazil is a country which so far has never seen a terrorism attack; the Brazilian security agencies will have much to learn from Natjoints.

If Brazil wins the World Cup 2010, each Brazilian player will have a cash prize of R$ 1,000,000.00, which, by current rates, would be exchanged by a bit more than US$ 500,000 or a bit more than € 400,000.

Is that plenty or little?

Today, minimum wage in Brazil is R$ 550 per month. So, a worker in Brazil who gets minimum wage would have to work more than 150 years to get that much of money. That makes R$ 1,000,000.00 look like a lot of money.

However, several players in Brazil are paid more than a million dollars per year; sponsors of the Brazil team pay millions and millions per year; FIFA pays about US$ 30 million to the country who wins the World Cup. After winning the European Champions League, each player of Inter Milan was paid € 300,000. Thinking that way, US$ 500,000 or € 400,000 don’t look too impressive.

However, it is unlikely that any Brazilian player complain about that.

First, because several players seem to be thankful just for being in the team. There was a strong popular clamor for coach Dunga to leave out players like Josue, Felipe Melo and Elano and call up Ronaldinho, Ganso, Neymar instead.

Second, because all players know that they would be accused of being anti-patriotic or mercenaries. In the 1990 World Cup, all Brazilian players agreed that the prize proposed by CBF was too small, and posed for a photo with their hands covering the sponsor brand; it ended up that that team had one of the worst performances ever.

The Brazilian Football Federation announced today that the Brazilian team will play two friendly matches before the World Cup.

Brazil will play against Zimbabwe on June 2nd and against Tanzania on June 7th; the venues were not informed yet.

Update, May 27th: CBF confirmed today that the match against Zimbabwe will be in the National Stadium of Zimbabwe, and the match against Tanzania will be in the capital of that country, Dar es Salaam.

Zimbabwe and Tanzania are African countries, with very little tradition in football; both teams rank worse than #100 in the FIFA ranking.

According to coach Dunga, there is not much more to improve in the team; the matches will be useful to change Brazil’s mode from training to playing. The last serious friendly match, which Dunga probably used to define the lineup of Brazil in South Africa, was against Ireland, last March.

Brazil is training in the Brazilian city of Curitiba. The team will fly to South Africa on May 26th. The first official match of Brazil in the World Cup 2010 will be on June 15th, against North Korea.

Note: besides not being useful to help in the preparation of the team, some say that the game against Zimbabwe could raise political problems, as that country is ruled by a dictator, Robert Mugabe. However, these friendly matches are arranged by CBF, the Brazilian Confederation, which is guided primarily by financial reasons (Brazil doesn’t set foot in an stadium for less than US$ 1 million).

Most Brazilian players arrived today in Curitiba, where they will be training until May 26th, when they fly to South Africa (only three players are still to arrive: Julio Cesar, Maicon and Lucio, who will play the final of the Champions League tomorrow).

Curitiba (one of the host cities of the World Cup 2014) was chosen for this last stage of preparation in Brazil thanks to its climate, which is similar to Johannesburg’s, where Brazil will stay.

These first days of the preparation, the busiest person of the Brazilian team (and the one most listened to) will be José Luiz Runco (photo), official doctor of the staff.

Two players have deserved more attention: Luis Fabiano and Kaká. Fabiano got injured two weeks ago, and was saved from playing with his team, Sevilla, last weekend. Kaká has been suffering from a pubis lesion which, even though he says to be healed, also kept him out of the last matches.

Doctor Runco, however, affirmed that, after preliminary observations, all Brazilian players are in good physical conditions.

In the past ten World Cups (since 1970), it was only in 1990 that at least one player wasn’t dismissed from the Brazilian team because of physical problems (see a list here).

In 1998, Romário had a lesion in the calf; despite all effort to heal it (Romário had been the star of the 1994 champion team, and all time was given to him), Romário was eventually dismissed (see Romário crying before the cameras), and Emerson was called to replace him. Ironically, in 2002, it was Emerson who got injured during a training in Korea, and Ricardinho was called to replace him. In 2006, it was Edmilson who got injured, and Mineiro was his substitute.

The tournament’s ever presents reached South Africa with three games to spare as they secured a sweet victory on Argentine soil in Rosario to make sure of their place in South Africa. Dunga successfully implemented a no-nonsense approach to international football and axed many of Brazil’s star names in favour of building a more cohesive unit.

With only two defeats along the way Brazil’s route to the 2010 World Cup finals was always a procession. Although Dunga has been roundly criticised for taking much of the natural flair out of the Selecao the team still finished up top scorers in the CONMEBOL qualification series.

There were many memorable moments along the way in Brazil’s qualification for South Africa including their lifting of an old hoodoo with a thumping 4-0 win away to Uruguay and Luis Fabiano’s nine goals signalling his arrival as the real deal in front of goal. Brazil were also able to take some time away from qualifying to win the Confederations Cup and have a good look at the conditions they can expect when they return to South Africa for the World Cup.

Analysis

Things seemed to be going so well for Brazil when North Korea popped out as their first Group G opponents. Events took a turn for the worse however when the Ivory Coast and Portugal completed the line-up. Brazil have had some easy groups in the past but they will have to start early in South Africa if they don’t want to suffer an embarrassingly early exit.

Thankfully for fans of Brazil after nearly four years in the job Dunga has a well oiled machine at his disposal which trusts him enough to follow his instructions down to the letter. The World Cup winning captain of USA 94 knows what he wants from his team and has a way of getting his point across which has translated into the right results on the pitch.

Júlio César of Inter Milan is widely recognised as the best goalkeeper in the world right now and a string of near faultless displays have made him a shoe-in to wear the gloves for Brazil in South Africa.

The Brazilian defence houses one of the side’s most potent attacking forces. Júlio César’s team-mate at the San Siro Maicon is as close to you get to the complete footballer. His surging runs from right-back can frighten the life out of the opposition as he seems to be able to gallivant at will through anything thrown in his path. Alongside Maicon are the duel colossuses of Lucio and Luisão, as well as being assured in defence these two are also a real threat from set-pieces. The left-back position remains up for grabs but due to Maicon’s influence on the team his counterpart on the other side of the pitch is often asked to tuck in and provide protection.

The point which has the purists knocking Dunga is his unfaltering selection of Gilberto Silva and Felipe Melo in the middle of the park. This duo offer little in the way of creativity but both can play the hatchetman role with unerring ease. Elano is able to cover Maicon on the right side of midfield while Robinho is encouraged to roam from his starting post on the left. In the middle they have Kaká whose growing understanding with Luis Fabiano usually translates itself into goals.

They sound fairly decent don’t they? Well, they are Brazil after all.

Key Player: Kaká

If you looked closely enough you will have seen Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite with his hands on the World Cup once already. As a 20-year-old he travelled to the Far East as part of Brazil’s World Cup winning squad of 2002 but only got on the pitch for 25 minutes against Costa Rica.

Since then he has fought his way to becoming the star man of the Brazilian set-up and owner of the much coveted number 10 shirt. Despite already being a regular in the team during the 2006 World Cup it was the appointment of Dunga which saw Kaká’s stock rise within the Selecao camp. With Kaká’s devotion to religion and family he was seen as the antithesis of the partying antics of Ronaldo and co which was identified as the root of Brazil’s poor performance in Germany.

With Kaká’s ability however he needs few favours or special treatment from managers, just the opportunity to take the field and do what he does best. His most recent moment of magic in the yellow of Brazil was a pin point throughball to Luis Fabiano for Brazil’s third against Argentina in the game which sealed their passage to South Africa. The pass was a carbon copy of his ball for Hernan Crespo in the 2005 Champions League final. If you miss a piece of sublime skill from Kaká don’t worry, he’s bound to do it again sooner or later.

One To Watch: Nilmar

Nilmar Honorato da Silva is very highly rated in his homeland after two prolific spells with Internacional. He first left Brazil aged 19 to play for Lyon but it was clearly a step to soon for the youngster as he struggled to get to grips with the French League. He returned to Brazil and the goals starting coming again, it was Villarreal who were brave enough to give the player a second chance in Europe.

Nilmar is currently in the process of repaying the Spanish outfit for the faith that they showed in him and his goals have seen him on the fringes of the Brazilian set-up. The one thing he has done whenever he has played for Brazil is looked dangerous and his international tally of eight goals in nine games certainly supports this.

He recently scored back-to-back goals in friendlies against England and Oman, anyone who saw his headed goal against the English will recognise this is a player not afraid to improvise. Nilmar plays on the shoulder of defenders, waits his moment and relies on his electric pace to take him away from his marker.

The only trouble for the 25-year-old is that he must get himself ahead of a long list of strikers including Diego Tardelli, Adriano, Alexandre Pato and O Fenômeno himself, Ronaldo, if he is to make it to South Africa.

Coach: Dunga

Results-wise things could not have gone much better for Dunga in the World Cup winner’s first management position. He has already started adding to Brazil’s overstacked trophy cabinet with victories in both the 2007 Copa América and the 2009 Confederations Cup. His only defeat at tournament level came during 2008 Olympic’s but he soon got revenge on Argentina by beating them 3-1 in their own backyard.

In fact Dunga is a man who takes defeat personally and after Portugal inflicted the first loss of his time in charge he masterminded a 6-2 demolition of the same opponents next time they played. He will no doubt be plotting something similar for when the two teams meet again in South Africa.

Dunga has interpreted his no-nonsense playing style into his role as manager. He inherited a side dominated by the Magic Quartet of Ronaldinho, Kaká, Adriano and Ronaldo. Dunga soon showed that nobody had a guaranteed place in the side and four years later it is only Kaká who is certain to feature if fit when Brazil play in South Africa.

These days you are just as likely to see flair in the dugout as on the pitch as Dunga continues to wear unusual matchday attire courtesy of his fashion designer daughter.

Recent Previous Tournaments

France 1998: Runner-up
South Korea/Japan 2002: Winner
Germany 2006: Quarter-finals

Soccerphile says...

As always Brazil has all the tools required to win the World Cup, they already have five triumphs to their name and of course a sixth in South Africa is not out of the question.

The Selecao have been on the top of their game for four years now under Dunga and are yet to play a game under their current boss where they looked overly suspect in any department. Personally though I just cannot see it being their year in South Africa.

I worry about the squad having to wait so long before taking the field for their first game and I worry about the possibility of an early meeting with Spain. I worry that they have looked so good since the end of the last World Cup that they will not know what to do when they find themselves up against it. I also worry that Dunga does not play Jugo Bonito and there are so many back home looking for the opportunity to get at him for taking the joy out of the Brazilian game.

Nobody will be asking for a game against the Selecao in South Africa but as the Brazilians say themselves, “The only team who can beat us is ourselves.”

 

brazil`s world records:

Brazil's World Cup record: 1930 1st rd, 1934 1st rd, 1938 3rd, 1950 RU, 1954 QF, 1958 Winners, 1962 Winners, 1966 1st rd, 1970 Winners, 1974 4th, 1978 3rd, 1982 2nd rd, 1986 QF, 1990 2nd rd, 1994 Winners, 1998 RU, 2002 Winners, 2006 QF.

World Cup 2010: South American Group, 1st.

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The Coach: Dunga (Brazilian, 46). Appointed: July 2006. WC experience: Player: 1990, 1994, 1998. Coach: None.

Dunga was considered as a replacement for Vanderlei Luxemburgo in 2000 but it was not for another six years until he took charge, replacing Carlos Alberto Parreira.

The Country: Brazil are joint favourites, with Spain, to win a sixth World Cup, not that surprising given their pedigree, history and ability to continually produce outstanding players. There is a saying in football that “The English invented it, the Brazilians perfected it” and few would argue.

The “Little Canary”, as they affectionately known, are the only team to have appeared in every World Cup finals and they made sure that record would continue in the best possible fashion, beating Argentina 3-1 in Rosario.

Two goals from striker Luis Fabiano and another from defender Luisao was enough as they inflicted only the second home defeat in World Cup qualifiers on Diego Maradona's struggling side.

But it was not all plain sailing. A 0-0 draw at home to Bolivia was a low point and then they were held by Colombia in the next home tie, prompting the fans to chant “Goodbye Dunga” again.

But a coach who worked in the media during the last World Cup finals is benefiting from the form of Kaka and Robinho. In Dunga they have a man who has won the World Cup, in 1994, while they have some of the world’s most talented players. He used no fewer than 39 players during the qualification process, and the belief is that Brazil have strength in depth ahead of South Africa.

Ronaldo, a World Cup winner in 1994 and 2002, was dropped by Dunga but remains optimistic, at the age of 33, that he could still feature in South Africa, though such a recall remains doubtful.

Telegraph verdict: Rightly favourites along with Spain. Their victory in Argentina during qualifying sealed their status while coach Dunga has created a system that will be hard to beat. Brazil may not possess the attacking flair of old but it’s still evident while they are organised and will be extremely competitive and robust with pace and power.

The big story from this evening's 2010 World Cup draw in Cape Town came from Group G where Brazil, Ivory Coast, and Portugal were positioned together along with North Korea in the 'Group of Death'.

Hosts South Africa had a tough draw in Group A along with Mexico, Uruguay and France.

Holders Italy will have to make their way past Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia as they attempt to retain the trophy they won in Germany in 2006.

The opening game of the tournament will see South Africa play Mexico in Johannesburg on 11 June.

South African actress Charlize Theron, England international David Beckham, Ethiopian athletics legend Haile Gebrselassie, South African cricket pioneer Makhaya Ntini, Springbok rugby player John Smit, and Bafana defender Matthew Booth helped conduct the draw at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in front of a crowd of luminaries including Franz Beckenbauer, Eusebio, and Desmond Tutu.

Geographical criteria meant that no two teams from the same confederation could be drawn in the same group, with the exception of European teams where a maximum of two were permitted.