The Brazilian government announced measures on Monday to speed up preparations to host the soccer World Cup in 2014, boosting spending and cutting red tape for public works projects.
The move follows growing concern in recent weeks, including by the soccer world governing body FIFA, that preparations for the sporting event were seriously delayed.
The debate put the spotlight on numerous obstacles to investment in Brazil's fast-growing economy and angered President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has been touting the tournament as an accomplishment of his government ahead of October's presidential election.
Brazil will also host the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
In a signing ceremony arranged at short notice, Lula pledged 5.5 billion reais to revamp airports in the 12 cities that will host the soccer tournament.
He also lifted restrictions on the ability of cities to raise debt to pay for infrastructure such as roads, stadiums and trains.
Lula, who called some of the concerns senseless, said the latest measures would avoid problems Brazil had with funding the 2007 Pan-American Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The federal government also donated real estate and earmarked 740 million reais on Monday to allow seven cities, including Rio de Janeiro, to overhaul their ports and facilitate docking of large cruise ships.
"Certainly it will be an alternative to the lack of hotels," said Pedro Brito, the ports minister.
Lula blamed the Sao Paulo state government, which until April was run by the opposition presidential candidate Jose Serra, for failing to provide an adequate stadium to host the World Cup.
"Frankly, I can't imagine a World Cup in Brazil without Sao Paulo as one of the corners for athletes to play ball," Lula said during the ceremony in the capital Brasilia.
Original story:
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Stemsport - soon to be available in Brazil?
StemSport
The StemSPORT regime is the latest Stem Cell Nutrition offering coming out of California's STEMTech HealthSciences, the Stem Cell Nutrition company. STEMTech and its Chief Science Officer Christian Drapeau have been increasingly in the news over the last two years for their breakthrough work in the field of Adult Stem Cells.
The STEMTech mantra, supported by double blind scientific studies, is that Adult Stem Cells made by a person's own bone marrow are nothing less than the body's natural renewal system. The STEMTech product line increases the release and circulation of Adult Stem Cells by some 25% with some extraordinary results. StemSPORT is their first entry into the Sport's Nutrition market.
Sports guru and STEMTech V.P. Heather Livingston said the NBA All Star Weekend venue for launching the sports Stem Cell Nutrition product is symbolic.
"With StemSPORT we're empowering distributors to proactively impact the performance of all athletes, amateur and professional, by assisting in reducing muscle recovery time. What more visible start than with the Legends of Basketball?"
Scientist and author Christian Drapeau explains how the Stem Cell enhancers function to maximize human performance: "Supporting the release of stem cells from the bone marrow and increasing the number of circulating stem cells improves various aspects of human health. For very active and sports focused people, Stem Cells are the raw materials to repair micro-tears and micro-injuries created during training."
The results, according to Drapeau, are that active people, whether former NBA stars or amateur weekenders, can exercise more intensely at each training session with the ultimate consequence of greater performance.
Read original here:
The StemSPORT regime is the latest Stem Cell Nutrition offering coming out of California's STEMTech HealthSciences, the Stem Cell Nutrition company. STEMTech and its Chief Science Officer Christian Drapeau have been increasingly in the news over the last two years for their breakthrough work in the field of Adult Stem Cells.
The STEMTech mantra, supported by double blind scientific studies, is that Adult Stem Cells made by a person's own bone marrow are nothing less than the body's natural renewal system. The STEMTech product line increases the release and circulation of Adult Stem Cells by some 25% with some extraordinary results. StemSPORT is their first entry into the Sport's Nutrition market.
Sports guru and STEMTech V.P. Heather Livingston said the NBA All Star Weekend venue for launching the sports Stem Cell Nutrition product is symbolic."With StemSPORT we're empowering distributors to proactively impact the performance of all athletes, amateur and professional, by assisting in reducing muscle recovery time. What more visible start than with the Legends of Basketball?"
Scientist and author Christian Drapeau explains how the Stem Cell enhancers function to maximize human performance: "Supporting the release of stem cells from the bone marrow and increasing the number of circulating stem cells improves various aspects of human health. For very active and sports focused people, Stem Cells are the raw materials to repair micro-tears and micro-injuries created during training."
The results, according to Drapeau, are that active people, whether former NBA stars or amateur weekenders, can exercise more intensely at each training session with the ultimate consequence of greater performance.
Read original here:
Monday, July 5, 2010
Stubborn Dunga dug own grave
The ghosts of his stoic and at times arrogant selection blunders will surely come to haunt Carlos Dunga long after he has been delegated to what now seems a certain Brazilian coaching grave.
In a soccer-mad country where failure to win the World Cup is little short of a tragedy and invariably a non-negotiable commodity for any coach, Dunga went out on a limb when he inexplicably refused to include charismatic soccer genius Ronaldinho in his 2010 World Cup squad.
But almost as though fate took a hand in knocking the nails into Dunga’s coffin as Brazil slithered to a 2-1 defeat against Holland at Port Elizabeth’s Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Friday, it was Dunga’s controversially selected Felipe Melo that precipitated the jarring second-half decline of the five-time champions.
Although a talented player, Melo has experienced an alarming decline in form over the past 12 months so much that he has regularly been booed by supporters of Juventus, in Italy, where he is now based after a series of blunders not dissimilar to those he committed against The Netherlands.
In the first instance it was Melo’s header that deflected the Jabulani ball into the net past bemused goalkeeper Julio Cesar for The Netherlands’ second-half equaliser.
Then again it was the hapless Melo who was responsible for Brazil being reduced to 10 men in the 68th minute when he needlessly stomped all over Arjen Robben.
And Dunga’s world – or should that be World Cup – fell apart after he had also stuck by a combination he had pieced together 12 months earlier while stubbornly disregarding the loss of form of a number of other players apart from Melo.
He resorted to utilising three defensive midfielders following the injury to Elano and playing Dani Alves, one of the world’s leading full-backs, out-of-position in a role where his talents are largely negated.
And, apart from the non-selection of Ronaldinho, the implacable Dunga had also turned his back on brilliant AC Milan striker Pato and a host of dynamic, emerging young Brazilian stars.
That is how Dunga dug his own grave.
Original:
In a soccer-mad country where failure to win the World Cup is little short of a tragedy and invariably a non-negotiable commodity for any coach, Dunga went out on a limb when he inexplicably refused to include charismatic soccer genius Ronaldinho in his 2010 World Cup squad.
But almost as though fate took a hand in knocking the nails into Dunga’s coffin as Brazil slithered to a 2-1 defeat against Holland at Port Elizabeth’s Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Friday, it was Dunga’s controversially selected Felipe Melo that precipitated the jarring second-half decline of the five-time champions.
Although a talented player, Melo has experienced an alarming decline in form over the past 12 months so much that he has regularly been booed by supporters of Juventus, in Italy, where he is now based after a series of blunders not dissimilar to those he committed against The Netherlands.
In the first instance it was Melo’s header that deflected the Jabulani ball into the net past bemused goalkeeper Julio Cesar for The Netherlands’ second-half equaliser.
Then again it was the hapless Melo who was responsible for Brazil being reduced to 10 men in the 68th minute when he needlessly stomped all over Arjen Robben.
And Dunga’s world – or should that be World Cup – fell apart after he had also stuck by a combination he had pieced together 12 months earlier while stubbornly disregarding the loss of form of a number of other players apart from Melo.
He resorted to utilising three defensive midfielders following the injury to Elano and playing Dani Alves, one of the world’s leading full-backs, out-of-position in a role where his talents are largely negated.
And, apart from the non-selection of Ronaldinho, the implacable Dunga had also turned his back on brilliant AC Milan striker Pato and a host of dynamic, emerging young Brazilian stars.
That is how Dunga dug his own grave.
Original:
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Brazil’s Beautiful Game Now Has Tougher Edge
By whatever means the Dutch think they can knock Brazil out of the World Cup, getting physical would not be a good idea. This is a big Brazilian team, the tallest, strongest and most physical in memory.
Its defenders will be taller and clearly bigger man to man than their Dutch counterparts in Friday’s quarterfinal game in Port Elizabeth. And if Mark van Bommel has notions of roughing up Kaká the way he did little Leo Messi in the Champions League last year, he might consider two things: the referees in this World Cup have been consistently hard on that kind of play, and Kaká is one of eight Brazilian starters (and 13 on the 23-man roster) who stand above 6 feet.
Indeed, Kaká has already been forced to miss a game during this tournament for what might euphemistically be termed getting his retaliation in first. A man of silky skills, Kaká has added steel, as anyone playing under Coach Carlos Dunga must.
Dunga was tough as a player. As a coach, he is unequivocal: stand up and fight for the right to play or he will select someone who will.
Brazil’s muscle has been growing for more than 40 years. Some might ascribe this to Dunga, 46, but he is a mere disciple — an extreme one perhaps — of a toughening-up process that dates to 1966. It was then that Pelé, the greatest player of them all, was battered out of the World Cup in England. First the Bulgarians kicked him, then the Portuguese. The Brazilians never forgot that in the Portugal game it was a British referee, George McCabe, who allowed the rough play that hobbled Pelé and led to Brazil’s being eliminated in the group stage.
Long before Dunga was a player, Brazil dispatched trainers and coaches to study physical preparation at the German sports institute in Leipzig. The Beautiful Game that fans know and love — and hope for from Brazil from time to time — gives way to emulating Europeans, sacrificing flair for method.
Dunga was the anchor of perhaps the most structured Brazilian team to be world champion, in 1994. He watched Brazil win the trophy again in 2002, but lose in the quarterfinals in Germany four years later.
That was when he came in as coach. His work is evident in the way Brazil performs now, a style that is so athletic that many former Brazilian players are Dunga’s foremost critics. The former star Socrates has called the new Brazil “an affront to our culture.”
Socrates was a tall, thin midfielder who appeared to walk on stilts when he played in the 1980s. He was elegant and languid in his movements, but his type would never get near the Brazil of Dunga.
It is not simply a question of height. The members of Dunga’s team — with the exception of the recently repatriated winger Robinho and the reserve defender Gilberto Melo — play for clubs in the rugged leagues of Europe. Goalkeeper Júlio César, right back Maicon and central defender Lúcio, the team’s captain, helped Inter Milan win the Italian League, the Italian Cup and the Champions League in May.
César, playing at this World Cup in a back brace to protect a recent injury, is game-tested and among the few first-rate goalkeepers Brazil has produced. Boys in Brazil prefer to play offense. Even some defenders, like Lúcio and Maicon, love nothing better than to stride out of their defensive positions and counterattack.
Dunga does not deny them the right, provided they observe the safety-first ethic of his game plan. This, moreover, must be the first Brazil seleção, the national team, that strives to win matches on set plays like corner kicks rather than simply off the flow of the game.
Read more:
Its defenders will be taller and clearly bigger man to man than their Dutch counterparts in Friday’s quarterfinal game in Port Elizabeth. And if Mark van Bommel has notions of roughing up Kaká the way he did little Leo Messi in the Champions League last year, he might consider two things: the referees in this World Cup have been consistently hard on that kind of play, and Kaká is one of eight Brazilian starters (and 13 on the 23-man roster) who stand above 6 feet.
Indeed, Kaká has already been forced to miss a game during this tournament for what might euphemistically be termed getting his retaliation in first. A man of silky skills, Kaká has added steel, as anyone playing under Coach Carlos Dunga must.
Dunga was tough as a player. As a coach, he is unequivocal: stand up and fight for the right to play or he will select someone who will.
Brazil’s muscle has been growing for more than 40 years. Some might ascribe this to Dunga, 46, but he is a mere disciple — an extreme one perhaps — of a toughening-up process that dates to 1966. It was then that Pelé, the greatest player of them all, was battered out of the World Cup in England. First the Bulgarians kicked him, then the Portuguese. The Brazilians never forgot that in the Portugal game it was a British referee, George McCabe, who allowed the rough play that hobbled Pelé and led to Brazil’s being eliminated in the group stage.
Long before Dunga was a player, Brazil dispatched trainers and coaches to study physical preparation at the German sports institute in Leipzig. The Beautiful Game that fans know and love — and hope for from Brazil from time to time — gives way to emulating Europeans, sacrificing flair for method.
Dunga was the anchor of perhaps the most structured Brazilian team to be world champion, in 1994. He watched Brazil win the trophy again in 2002, but lose in the quarterfinals in Germany four years later.
That was when he came in as coach. His work is evident in the way Brazil performs now, a style that is so athletic that many former Brazilian players are Dunga’s foremost critics. The former star Socrates has called the new Brazil “an affront to our culture.”
Socrates was a tall, thin midfielder who appeared to walk on stilts when he played in the 1980s. He was elegant and languid in his movements, but his type would never get near the Brazil of Dunga.
It is not simply a question of height. The members of Dunga’s team — with the exception of the recently repatriated winger Robinho and the reserve defender Gilberto Melo — play for clubs in the rugged leagues of Europe. Goalkeeper Júlio César, right back Maicon and central defender Lúcio, the team’s captain, helped Inter Milan win the Italian League, the Italian Cup and the Champions League in May.
César, playing at this World Cup in a back brace to protect a recent injury, is game-tested and among the few first-rate goalkeepers Brazil has produced. Boys in Brazil prefer to play offense. Even some defenders, like Lúcio and Maicon, love nothing better than to stride out of their defensive positions and counterattack.
Dunga does not deny them the right, provided they observe the safety-first ethic of his game plan. This, moreover, must be the first Brazil seleção, the national team, that strives to win matches on set plays like corner kicks rather than simply off the flow of the game.
Read more:
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Brazil 3, Chile 0
Rhythmic or Ruthless, Beauty Is in Eye of Brazil
Let others complain about a lack of beauty. Dunga, Brazil’s coach, is concerned only about winning. The World Cup is, after all, a soccer tournament. The goal is to put another trophy in the case, not to hang a picture on the wall.
With its usual pragmatic reliance on set pieces and rampaging counterattacks, Brazil routed Chile, 3-0, on Monday night at Ellis Park. Seeking a sixth World Cup title, it advanced to the quarterfinals, where it will face the Netherlands on Friday.
If Brazil no longer plays samba soccer, sometimes seeming disjointed and desultory in attack, it remains formidable with an athletic and remorseless defense and enough moments of individual brilliance to summon the beautiful game and to lament its absence.
Monday’s victory was Brazil’s most impressive of its three so far. It featured glimpses of ostentation and fluidity that recalled a more elegant past. But mostly the match was one of dogged hustle and incessant running to intercept Chile’s florid attack, strip it and boomerang it in the opposite direction.
“We already said in these World Cup games, we have to go forward and play open football,” Dunga said. “That’s what everybody wants to see.”
In the 35th minute, Maicon’s corner kick found center back Juan, who was challenged only by other teammates seeking to score, not by any Chilean defenders. Juan headed the ball sharply from 10 yards, and Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo raised his right hand too late as Brazil went ahead, 1-0.
Three minutes later, Brazil scored on a quick counterattack. Maicon whipped a long pass to midfield, and Kaká headed the ball to Robinho, who was streaming down the left flank. Robinho crossed back to Kaká, who slid the ball perfectly forward to Luís Fabiano in the penalty area.
Chile’s offside trap failed, and Luís Fabiano stepped around the charging Bravo and tapped the ball into an empty net, scoring his third goal in four games and giving Brazil a 2-0 lead.
Kaká no longer has the commanding presence that made him the world player of the year in 2007, but he is slowly building in this World Cup after an injury-thwarted season at Real Madrid. After sitting out the final group match with a suspension, Kaká returned with graceful passing to fuel Brazil’s potent counterattacks.
He does, however, have to remain careful after drawing his third yellow card in four matches.
“Yes, it is a problem,” an irritated Dunga said. “Technical players are punished, and those who always commit fouls aren’t. This is lamentable.”
Brazil’s final goal came in the 59th minute, when midfielder Ramires stole a pass at midfield, dribbled through acres of open space and passed at the top of the penalty area to Robinho. His one-touch shot curled around Bravo and inside the right post, putting Brazil ahead, 3-0.
If Brazil is not always brilliant, it does possess remarkable depth and resourcefulness. Elano, who had two goals and an assist in group play, and Felipe Melo were absent from midfield with injury. They were hardly missed.
Ramires had played only 15 minutes in Brazil’s first three games, but he was ruthlessly efficient on Monday’s third goal. The other replacement midfielder was the kinetic Dani Alves, who happens to be the right back for Barcelona.
Before Monday’s game, Dunga defended his team’s style. This is becoming a daily occurrence, like shaving. Brazil’s World Cup titlists from 1958, 1962 and 1970 are remembered fondly because of the polishing of time and the enhancing of their artistry through edited video remnants, Dunga suggested.
“They just show the good parts,” Dunga said. “If we take the current Brazilian team and just show the best bits, fans will think it is a spectacular team. But today, they show as many negative moments as good ones.”
He continually reminds reporters that soccer today is different in terms of fitness and tactics and pressure. But he also concedes that it is human nature to think fondly of the past, knowing that his team also has the possibility to grow in affection with the passage of time.
“My grandfather always told my father football was better in his day, and my father told me the same,” Dunga said. “I tell my son it was better in my day, and my son will in turn tell his boy that football during his time was the most beautiful.”
For now, beauty can take a back seat to mercilessness.
Chile has developed a swarming attack under Coach Marcelo Bielsa, who is known as El Loco. It plays a style that sits on the razor’s edge between self-assuredness and self-immolation. On Monday, Chile experienced the same futility as it had against Spain, charging forward but leaving itself vulnerable to whiplash counterattacks.
Forward Humberto Suazo, who led South America with 10 goals during World Cup qualifying but played little over the last two months because of injuries, started and grew sharper as the game went on.
But neither he nor his teammates could do more than threaten. Chile has now lost eight consecutive times to Brazil, conceding 29 goals.
“The superiority of Brazil was too much for us,” Bielsa said. “We were unable to slow them down. They were quick to take advantage of every crack we had in our defense.”
Read Original
Let others complain about a lack of beauty. Dunga, Brazil’s coach, is concerned only about winning. The World Cup is, after all, a soccer tournament. The goal is to put another trophy in the case, not to hang a picture on the wall.
With its usual pragmatic reliance on set pieces and rampaging counterattacks, Brazil routed Chile, 3-0, on Monday night at Ellis Park. Seeking a sixth World Cup title, it advanced to the quarterfinals, where it will face the Netherlands on Friday.
If Brazil no longer plays samba soccer, sometimes seeming disjointed and desultory in attack, it remains formidable with an athletic and remorseless defense and enough moments of individual brilliance to summon the beautiful game and to lament its absence.
Monday’s victory was Brazil’s most impressive of its three so far. It featured glimpses of ostentation and fluidity that recalled a more elegant past. But mostly the match was one of dogged hustle and incessant running to intercept Chile’s florid attack, strip it and boomerang it in the opposite direction.
“We already said in these World Cup games, we have to go forward and play open football,” Dunga said. “That’s what everybody wants to see.”
In the 35th minute, Maicon’s corner kick found center back Juan, who was challenged only by other teammates seeking to score, not by any Chilean defenders. Juan headed the ball sharply from 10 yards, and Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo raised his right hand too late as Brazil went ahead, 1-0.
Three minutes later, Brazil scored on a quick counterattack. Maicon whipped a long pass to midfield, and Kaká headed the ball to Robinho, who was streaming down the left flank. Robinho crossed back to Kaká, who slid the ball perfectly forward to Luís Fabiano in the penalty area.
Chile’s offside trap failed, and Luís Fabiano stepped around the charging Bravo and tapped the ball into an empty net, scoring his third goal in four games and giving Brazil a 2-0 lead.
Kaká no longer has the commanding presence that made him the world player of the year in 2007, but he is slowly building in this World Cup after an injury-thwarted season at Real Madrid. After sitting out the final group match with a suspension, Kaká returned with graceful passing to fuel Brazil’s potent counterattacks.
He does, however, have to remain careful after drawing his third yellow card in four matches.
“Yes, it is a problem,” an irritated Dunga said. “Technical players are punished, and those who always commit fouls aren’t. This is lamentable.”
Brazil’s final goal came in the 59th minute, when midfielder Ramires stole a pass at midfield, dribbled through acres of open space and passed at the top of the penalty area to Robinho. His one-touch shot curled around Bravo and inside the right post, putting Brazil ahead, 3-0.
If Brazil is not always brilliant, it does possess remarkable depth and resourcefulness. Elano, who had two goals and an assist in group play, and Felipe Melo were absent from midfield with injury. They were hardly missed.
Ramires had played only 15 minutes in Brazil’s first three games, but he was ruthlessly efficient on Monday’s third goal. The other replacement midfielder was the kinetic Dani Alves, who happens to be the right back for Barcelona.
Before Monday’s game, Dunga defended his team’s style. This is becoming a daily occurrence, like shaving. Brazil’s World Cup titlists from 1958, 1962 and 1970 are remembered fondly because of the polishing of time and the enhancing of their artistry through edited video remnants, Dunga suggested.
“They just show the good parts,” Dunga said. “If we take the current Brazilian team and just show the best bits, fans will think it is a spectacular team. But today, they show as many negative moments as good ones.”
He continually reminds reporters that soccer today is different in terms of fitness and tactics and pressure. But he also concedes that it is human nature to think fondly of the past, knowing that his team also has the possibility to grow in affection with the passage of time.
“My grandfather always told my father football was better in his day, and my father told me the same,” Dunga said. “I tell my son it was better in my day, and my son will in turn tell his boy that football during his time was the most beautiful.”
For now, beauty can take a back seat to mercilessness.
Chile has developed a swarming attack under Coach Marcelo Bielsa, who is known as El Loco. It plays a style that sits on the razor’s edge between self-assuredness and self-immolation. On Monday, Chile experienced the same futility as it had against Spain, charging forward but leaving itself vulnerable to whiplash counterattacks.
Forward Humberto Suazo, who led South America with 10 goals during World Cup qualifying but played little over the last two months because of injuries, started and grew sharper as the game went on.
But neither he nor his teammates could do more than threaten. Chile has now lost eight consecutive times to Brazil, conceding 29 goals.
“The superiority of Brazil was too much for us,” Bielsa said. “We were unable to slow them down. They were quick to take advantage of every crack we had in our defense.”
Read Original
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Soccer - Brazil not losing any sleep over goalless draw
Brazil's stalemate with Portugal was the first World Cup group game since 1978 they have failed to score in and the first in 12 years they have not won although coach Dunga is unlikely to lose any sleep over it.
Already assured of a place in the last 16, Brazil were on Friday without suspended playmaker Kaka, rested Robinho who had complained of muscle fatigue and were also missing the injured Elano, who scored in each of their first two games.
Even so, they dominated an often petulant, bad-tempered match against their former colonial masters, who themselves needed a point to absolutely guarantee they would qualify from Group G and showed little appetite for adventure.
Robinho, who forgets the problems that have dogged his club career when he puts on a Brazil shirt, has been one of their liveliest players here but Nilmar proved an able replacement.
The Villarreal striker, who has the impressive tally of eight goals in 15 internationals, was twice close to opening the scoring in the first half and his close control and speed made him a constant nuisance for the Portuguese rearguard.
The absence of Kaka was more keenly felt, especially after he set up two goals in the 3-1 win over Ivory Coast last Sunday when he appeared close to returning to his best.
Kaka's explosive bursts from deep in the midfield, vision and clinical finishing, often from long distance, make him one of Brazil's most feared players, even when he is not fully fit.
DUNGA FRUSTRATED
After Brazil's sixth goalless draw of his nearly four years in charge, coach Dunga again expressed frustration at the way opponents shut up their defence when they play his side.
"All teams take extra care when they face Brazil, there was nothing unusual about Portugal's tactics," he said.
It was a rather odd complaint from Dunga, who is himself much more comfortable when Brazil -- who had scored in every World Cup group match since their 0-0 draw with Spain in 1978 -- can play on the counter-attack.
Under Dunga, Brazil's best results have come away from home, where their opponents are forced to come out and attack.
Their World Cup qualifying campaign included 4-0 wins in Venezuela and Uruguay, a 3-0 win in Chile and a 3-1 win in Argentina while home results included goalless draws against Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia and Colombia.
For all their lack of imagination, Brazil at least proved they are difficult to break down and only once looked in danger but were let off when Raul Meireles fluffed a chance. They have won 18 of their last 21 games and are unbeaten in nine.
Portugal never looked like a team who won their last game 7-0 and their performance had fear written all over it. But they are in the last 16 for the second World Cup in a row even if a chorus of jeers drowned out the vuvuzelas at the end.
Read original:
Already assured of a place in the last 16, Brazil were on Friday without suspended playmaker Kaka, rested Robinho who had complained of muscle fatigue and were also missing the injured Elano, who scored in each of their first two games.
Even so, they dominated an often petulant, bad-tempered match against their former colonial masters, who themselves needed a point to absolutely guarantee they would qualify from Group G and showed little appetite for adventure.
Robinho, who forgets the problems that have dogged his club career when he puts on a Brazil shirt, has been one of their liveliest players here but Nilmar proved an able replacement.
The Villarreal striker, who has the impressive tally of eight goals in 15 internationals, was twice close to opening the scoring in the first half and his close control and speed made him a constant nuisance for the Portuguese rearguard.
The absence of Kaka was more keenly felt, especially after he set up two goals in the 3-1 win over Ivory Coast last Sunday when he appeared close to returning to his best.
Kaka's explosive bursts from deep in the midfield, vision and clinical finishing, often from long distance, make him one of Brazil's most feared players, even when he is not fully fit.
DUNGA FRUSTRATED
After Brazil's sixth goalless draw of his nearly four years in charge, coach Dunga again expressed frustration at the way opponents shut up their defence when they play his side.
"All teams take extra care when they face Brazil, there was nothing unusual about Portugal's tactics," he said.
It was a rather odd complaint from Dunga, who is himself much more comfortable when Brazil -- who had scored in every World Cup group match since their 0-0 draw with Spain in 1978 -- can play on the counter-attack.
Under Dunga, Brazil's best results have come away from home, where their opponents are forced to come out and attack.
Their World Cup qualifying campaign included 4-0 wins in Venezuela and Uruguay, a 3-0 win in Chile and a 3-1 win in Argentina while home results included goalless draws against Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia and Colombia.
For all their lack of imagination, Brazil at least proved they are difficult to break down and only once looked in danger but were let off when Raul Meireles fluffed a chance. They have won 18 of their last 21 games and are unbeaten in nine.
Portugal never looked like a team who won their last game 7-0 and their performance had fear written all over it. But they are in the last 16 for the second World Cup in a row even if a chorus of jeers drowned out the vuvuzelas at the end.
Read original:
Monday, June 21, 2010
Mulling Kaka replacement
With progress to the FIFA World Cup™ last 16 already assured, Brazil's reserves have the chance to shine in their final group match against Portugal.
Monday was a rest day for the most part for the first eleven, as coach Dunga instead put the remainder of the squad through their paces in the knowledge that he now has two reasons to shuffle his pack and investigate his men's strength in depth. That is because wins over Korea DPR and Côte d'Ivoire have propelled Brazil through the opening phase but also because star midfielder Kaka has inadvertently done Dunga a favour.
By getting himself a red card against Côte d'Ivoire, the Real Madrid superstar will have to sit out the Portugal encounter come what may. His opening showing against the North Koreans in a fairly hard-fought 2-1 win was not quite what fans have come to expect of a former FIFA World Player of the Year and there had been indications that he would not necessarily keep his place with some players talking up the skills of the likes of Julio Baptista.
Kaka did improve against Côte d'Ivoire with a neat assist, but his sending off for pushing Abdelkader Keita means Dunga must shake things up anyway - though with six points in the bag, he can afford to do so. "We are not sure who will replace Kaka for the next game, we will think about it over the next few days," Dunga said.
Although Dunga - to the horror of some former players and many fans - has reined in the samba style in his four-year tenure, to date he has nonetheless been handsomely rewarded both in the CONMEBOL Copa America and the FIFA Confederations Cup here last year.
Former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson, currently in charge of Côte d'Ivoire, feels Brazil look like champions. "You need to be almost perfect to beat Brazil. In every way they are good, they are very good," opined Eriksson.
Read more:
Monday was a rest day for the most part for the first eleven, as coach Dunga instead put the remainder of the squad through their paces in the knowledge that he now has two reasons to shuffle his pack and investigate his men's strength in depth. That is because wins over Korea DPR and Côte d'Ivoire have propelled Brazil through the opening phase but also because star midfielder Kaka has inadvertently done Dunga a favour.
By getting himself a red card against Côte d'Ivoire, the Real Madrid superstar will have to sit out the Portugal encounter come what may. His opening showing against the North Koreans in a fairly hard-fought 2-1 win was not quite what fans have come to expect of a former FIFA World Player of the Year and there had been indications that he would not necessarily keep his place with some players talking up the skills of the likes of Julio Baptista.
Kaka did improve against Côte d'Ivoire with a neat assist, but his sending off for pushing Abdelkader Keita means Dunga must shake things up anyway - though with six points in the bag, he can afford to do so. "We are not sure who will replace Kaka for the next game, we will think about it over the next few days," Dunga said.
Although Dunga - to the horror of some former players and many fans - has reined in the samba style in his four-year tenure, to date he has nonetheless been handsomely rewarded both in the CONMEBOL Copa America and the FIFA Confederations Cup here last year.
Former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson, currently in charge of Côte d'Ivoire, feels Brazil look like champions. "You need to be almost perfect to beat Brazil. In every way they are good, they are very good," opined Eriksson.
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