Post by Taxigirl on Feb 17, 2004 11:52:40 GMT
Visitors to Lansdowne Road on Wednesday will not be watching a sub-strength Brazil go through the motions in a meaningless match.
The world champions will have almost all of their big guns firing.
True, Brazil's best two clubs are in action this week in the Copa Libertadores.
But the absence of players from Cruzeiro and Santos only deprives coach Parreira of one first choice player, Rivaldo, as well as reserve creative midfielders Alex and Diego.
The non-availability of Rivaldo sets up an interesting situation in the Brazil attack.
Assuming that Ronaldo and Rivaldo are still first choices, there is space for either Ronaldinho Gaucho or Kaka.
Both will have a chance to press their claim against the Irish. And if they form a good combination, perhaps Rivaldo might find it hard to get back in.
After all, he is approaching 32 and still struggling for his best form.
There is also the battle between Adriano and Luis Fabiano to establish themselves as Ronaldo's first reserve, and reduce Brazil's dependence on the Real Madrid striker.
But it is at the other end of the field that the Ireland game is particularly interesting.
At the end of next month Brazil travel to face Paraguay in the 5th round of World Cup qualification.
It will be an extremely difficult game. The Paraguayans are currently top of the table, having won their last three games.
They have a very direct style of play, striking the ball early to their pair of aggressive, dangerous strikers, Cardoso and Santa Cruz.
Brazil were especially keen on coming to Ireland because they are expecting a similar sort of challenge from Brian Kerr's team.
And on recent evidence, they need all the practice they can get against the aerial assault.
They looked very shaky against the high ball in November's draws against Peru and Uruguay.
In part the problem has been individual; their leading centre back Lucio fell below his usual standards and his partner Roque Junior, as Leeds fans will recall, has hit a run of rotten form.
But there has also been a collective failure. Since the World Cup Brazil have switched their goalkeeper, with Dida coming in for Marcos.
There has been an obvious lack of communication between keeper and centre backs, and the opposition have taken advantage.
Coach Parreira might hope that having an extra match together will resolve the problem. Or he could use the Ireland game to bring Marcos back off the bench.
He could replace Roque Junior with Juan, Lucio's club partner at Bayer Leverkeusen.
Juan is a classy defender, but there are doubts about whether he has the physical capacity to stand up to the kind of test that Paraguay and Ireland could throw at him.
Parreira will hope to come away from Dublin with a clear idea of his team to take on the Paraguayans. The Irish, then, have an important part to play in Brazil's quest to win their sixth World Cup