World Cup Team Profiles: Group G: Brazil

Teams / Ari Last / 09 March 2010 / Leave a comment Free £25 Bet

The Spanish might be favourites, but Brazil are still the team that everyone will want to beat in South Africa...

What's particularly scary about this Brazilian side is that whereas in the past optimistic opponents could always point to a weakness, this time around there appears to be none. What's more, their coach has drilled the type of discipline into the team which served him so well as a player, and the relatively new-found virtue of solidity, coupled with their devastating creativity, makes the [6.2] on them to triumph look like a safe place to put your money.

Nation: Brazil

Also known as...
'A Selecao' or "O Escrete"

Route to South Africa...
All together pretty painless. Yes, consecutive home draws against Argentina, Columbia and Bolivia did cause some consternation. However, after going on a five-match winning spree from April onwards, Dunga's men qualified for South Africa with three games to spare, and crucially, they secured their place with a magnificent 3-1 win over Argentina in Rosario.

World Cup Pedigree...
No nation matches Brazil in this category. They are the only side to have taken part in all 19 editions of the event, and they are the only nation to have won it on five different occasions. Regardless of the personnel at their disposal or their form going into the tournament, Brazil always enter their first match heavily favoured to reach the final at least. This time round, it's no different.

They'll be relying on...
Luis Fabiano to become the latest Brazilian striker to take a World Cup by storm. In the warm-up tournament, the 2009 Confederations Cup, Fabiano excelled, hitting five goals, including two in the final. Although Brazil have plenty of attacking talent at their disposal, much of the emphasis will be on the Sevilla man to put the finishing touches to the wonderful patterns they will look to weave.

Something you may not have known is...
The aforementioned Luis Fabiano currently boasts a phenomenal strike-rate at international level, having hit 25 goals in 36 games. That equates to a goal average of 1.44, which actually reads better than Brazilian striking legends such as Rivaldo (2.08), Bebeto (1.92) and even Ronaldo (1.53). It's an impressive tally all right, but the 29-year-old still has some way to go before matching the efforts of Romario, who scored a goal every 1.27 games for his country, and of course Pele, who boasted a remarkable record of a goal every 1.19 internationals.

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