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confederations cupBossing theSelecao:Blessing orcurse?Richard Ferraris and Trevor Kramerlook at Dunga’s squad for theConfederations Cup and evaluateBrazil’s chances of going all the way atthe tournamentThere are 190 million ofthem. Around 10 000 ofthem play professionallyeverywhere around theglobe from Spain to Uzbekistan.They have won the World Cup fivetimes. They call themselves ‘thefootball country’. They are Brazil.The South Americans have a curiousallure to fans, and the mythologysurrounding the famous yellowshirts is irresistible; it represents allthat is great about the world’s greatestsport. Style, skill, purity, flamboyance.The men known as Seleção haveit all, and with the weight of historybehind them, the bookmakers’reckon Brazil will win the ConfederationsCup. It doesn’t matter thatSpain should be the favourites onthe back of a 31 match unbeatenrun, their glorious triumph in theEuropean Championships and theirnumber one position in FIFA’s covetedrankings.Former Dutch international FrankRijkaard has sided with the bookiesand tipped Dunga’s side to be successfulat the eight-team showpiece.“I can think of Brazil. They arealways hungry to win because theyhave demanding fans who always followthem all over the world and theywant to see them winning.”And this is why Dunga’s job is sotreacherous. The Brazilian nation,who have the beautiful game coursingthrough their bodies, demandsuccess as a matter of course. Theformer Brazil captain named his 23-man squad for the ConfederationsCup recently and South Africa’spress, and indeed the world’s, werequick to comment on the absence oftwo names who have inspired theirnation to glory in recent times: Ronaldoand Ronaldinho.Both players were integral to theSamba Boys’ last World Cup triumphin 2002. The former notched a recordeight goals at the tournament while‘Dinho scored a wonder goal to helpBrazil defeat a very good Englandside at the quarter-final stage. Atclub level, the pair have won everythingthere is to win and yet, Dungahas left both players, as well as Adriano,back home.Of course there are good reasonsto leave the star trio out of thesquad. Ronaldo has been at Corinthianssince December as he continuesto recover from yet more surgery onhis troublesome knee. He himself admittedhe is in no shape to play forhis national team.“It isn’t the right moment to return,because of the problems thatI have,” he told Gazeta Esportiva.Adriano meanwhile continues tobattle demons of his own and is currentlyat São Paulo after a season ofmental torment at Inter Milan. Ronaldinho,too had a mediocre timewith AC Milan and the break canonly do him good. Jose Cabral, aformer Brazilian Futsal player, currentlycoaching at Stellenbosch University,concurs with Dunga’s selectionand believes the coach was rightto exclude the trio. He told SoccerWeek: “I think it was the right decisionbecause they are not playingfor their own clubs. They are not 100percent and when Brazil comes toplay a tournament they need to playwith players that are 100 percent becausethey are coming to win.”Between them these three havescored 121 goals at international level- a truly remarkable statistic by anyone’sreckoning. Few nations wouldmanage to cope with the absence ofthis amount of combined talent, letalone compete for overall honours.This is of course exactly what Brazilwill do simply because they arewho they are.The media, however, were fixatedon those omitted from the touringparty when they should havefocused on the names of those includedin the squad. And herein thebeauty of being the Brazil boss, Dungahas an almost infinite hotbed ofControversial omissionsfootballers who have an intrinsic andalmost preternatural disposition towardsplaying football, and playingit very well.Almost every week fans hear of orsee the next Samba genius, and unlikemany of the ‘next Maradonnas’to come out of Argentina, a startlinglyhigh percentage of these starletsgo on to achieve great things on thepitch. Cabral reckons the relativelyunknown pair of Cruzeiro midfielderRamires and Internacional strikerNilmar are the men who could takeup the mantle of past greats.“Nilmar, who is replacing Adrianois a very good player,” he said. “But itis not certain if he will play becausethey still have Luís Fabiano and Pato.Maybe Nilmar is one for the WorldCup.“Ramires, who is a midfielder, isalso coming through well. This willbe his first chance to play in a tournamentlike this.”Dunga finds himself in a peculiarposition where his blessing is alsohis curse. With there being so manypotential Kakas bearing Brazilianpassports, he has to be particularlycareful about who he calls up forduty. His local media are an unforgivingrabble, and failure at an internationaltournament could spell theend of Dunga’s time in the hotseat.The 45-year-old former midfielderhas already weathered a few stormsDunga’s job has as many perks as headachesand came in for some considerablestick for playing a functional style offootball in the 2007 Copa America -even though his experimental teambattered Argentina into submissionto secure the title.Cabral explained that Dunga’spragmatic approach is a product ofBrazil’s unique culture.“We have different regions and differentways of playing.“Carlos Alberto Parreira is fromRio de Janeiro and Dunga is fromthe south part of Brazil close to Argentina,Paraguay and Uruguay. LuizFelipe Scolari is from the same placeand Dunga is more related to Scolari’sstyle.”“People from the south of Brazillike Dunga and Scolari, they preparefirst their defence and then they willthink about the attacking. The peoplefrom Rio, like Parreira, they willthink first in the attacking and thenthey will prepare their defence,” headded.Parreira was in charge of Brazil atthe disastrous 2006 World Cup andhis tactical naivete in fielding his socalled‘magic quartet’ of Kaka, Ronaldinho,Adriano and Ronaldo iswhat many pundits believe led to theside’s elimination by France.Upon replacing Parreira, Dungamoved immediately to dismantle thequartet and implement a more disciplinedsystem. A combination of injuryand self-effacement means threefrom that famous quartet will missthe Confederations Cup and this allayeda serious selection headache,or perhaps migraine, for the coach.Added to this, the defensive elementDunga expounds could be justwhat they need to challenge Spain, ateam furnished with an almost Samba-esquepizzazz and technical brilliance.Even without a trio of legendaryplayers, Dunga’s team is still thebest equipped to deal with the Spanishthreat because they are Brazil -the football country.SoccerWeekJune 04 – June 10, 2009EllisParkStadiumName: Ellis ParkInauguration: 1927Capacity: 62 000 seatsRecord Attendance: 100 000 (approx.)Location: Johannesburg, GautengProvinceAltitude: 2000m above sea levelAverage June temperature: 21ºC / 70ºFClub: Orlando PiratesThe refurbished stadium17HistoryThe revamped Ellis Park is oneof the oldest stadia in South Africaand was established in 1927 bythe Transvaal Rugby Union. Thevenue was originally named afterMr JD Ellis, who made 13 acres ofspace available for the grounds.The stadium is fondly rememberedby many South Africansas the venue for the 1995 RugbyWorld Cup final in which South Africadefeated New Zealand. UnfortunatelyEllis Park was also thescene of the worst sporting tragedyin South African history when43 soccer fans died in a stampededuring the Soweto derby betweenKaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirateson April 11, 2001.UpgradesAround R500-million was spent onrefurbishing the famous old venue.Upgrades include a new upper tieron the North stand, the replacementof seats, upgrading of dressingrooms, improving the VIP areas,as well as the media andmedical facilities.The re-laid pitch is in good conditionand the new five-level parkadeis also complete. The revampedstadium seats 62 000 fans, increasingits capacity by almost nine percentfrom the previous 57 000.UsageToday Ellis Park is the homegrounds of the Golden Lions rugbyfranchise, football giants OrlandoPirates and is also the premierconcert-event host in South Africa.Confederations CupEllis Park will host the openingceremony, three preliminaryround games, a semi-final and thefinal - as well the closing ceremonyof the tournament.World CupEllis Park will host five groupgames, one second round gameand one quarter-final of the 2010World Cup.www.soccerweek.mobi