BRAZIL PROFILE: Always a threat, if the Samba Boys find their rhythm they'll be hard to beat writes Paul Doyle

They may have ridiculed their prestigious record of only having lost one qualifying game in 70 years prior to this campaign; they may have hobbled out of last summer’s Copa America after defeats at the hands of Mexico and Honduras; they may have gone through four managers, 60 players, and countless ‘crises’ throughout the qualifiers, but Brazil have made it to next year’s World Cup.

And you can be sure they don’t give a flying flamengo for Australian complaints about a qualifying regime that allows 50 per cent of South American teams, the highest proportion of any confederation, to reach the finals.

Not only are they there, but Brazil have the players to take home the trophy.

In Rivaldo (left), they have one of football’s great orchestrators, a man who can create chances a go-go for any one of the astonishing array of striking talent Brazil have to choose from - eventually Scolari opted to risk lynching by leaving out the likes of Romario, Elber, and Mario Jardel, choosing instead to place almost his eggs in the basket(case?) that is Ronaldo.

If Rivaldo is unavailable, they still have an unbelievable opulence of creative options, including Deportivo’s Djalminha, PSG’s Ronaldinho, Real Madrid’s Savio, Denilson of Real Betis, or Alex of Palmeiras. If those wizards can’t work a way through the middle, then they have some of the most exhilarating wing-backs in the world to raid down the flanks: Roberto Carlos, Cafu, Evanilson, Serghinio, or Silvinho.

Not only do they have flair, but they have force: Vampeta, Kaka, Emerson Ferreira, and Gilberto Silva are ferocious ball-winners eager to perform in the tradition of the great Dunga.

Brazil, then, should be capable of putting on an exhibition of high art every time they take to the field. Up till now, however, Brazilian fans have been offered a circus featuring a crazy carousel of discontented players, all presided over by a coven of connivers and clowns.

In short, shambolic organisation is to blame.

The campaign got underway with Wanderley Luxemburgo at the helm. A sharp-dresser with a demeanour few described as anything other than arrogant, Luxemburgo managed to compound bungling by the Brazilian Federation (CBF) by alienating some of his top players, such as Ronaldinho, Edmundo, Edilson, Leonardo and goalkeeper Claudio Taffarel, through an almost comical lack of tact.

He gave caps to players clearly inferior to ones he left out, with some critics going so far as to suggest his selection policy was self-serving. In November 2000, after he and the team’s results had become too unbearable for fans and players, he was sacked.

The CBF then devised a bizarre solution. They wanted Luiz Felipe Scolari (who won hosts of trophies at Atletico Minerio, Palmeiras, and Cruzeiro) as boss, but scenting the decidedly poisonous fragrance now surrounding the national team, "Big Phil" declined. So in came the partnership of Emerson Leao and Antonio Lopes.

Leao, who had never tasted true success as a club manager, arrived with promises of restoring the team’s attacking, artistic verve, which Luxemburgo had spurned in favour of tough tackling and rigid defending.

But Lopes was much more in the Luxemburgo vein – a former police chief, he was renowned for his disciplined, negative tactics. To make Leao’s position even more untenable, CBF President Ricardo Teixeira repeatedly sniped from afar, insisting, for example, that Romario be included in the starting 11 whether the managers wanted him or not.

Unsurprisingly, the Leao/Lopes double-act was short-lived. Six months after their inception, they were discarded and in came, finally, the man touted as the nation’s saviour, Big Phil (right). He demanded certain conditions, principally that he be given training camps with the players, and time to forge a cohesive unit from the dazzling, but disparate elements.

He was promised, before his first game away to Bolivia, a two week camp in Teresopolis. But of the 22 players selected to attend, 10 were withheld by their European clubs, three were injured, and then, in a move denoting mighty intelligence, the CBF invented a domestic mini-tournament which meant the top Brazilian clubs also recalled their players! Bolivia subsequently beat Brazil.

Though they made it complicated for themselves, Brazil eventually finished third in the South American qualifying league and reached the World Cup. Though Scolari has not been allowed to arrange the top-class the friendlies he wants, and can assemble all his players, he may still get Brazil back in the swing of things. And if the Samba Boys regain their rhythm, then regaining glory is the next obvious step.

Squad:

Goalkeepers
12-Dida (Corinthians), 22-Rogerio Ceni (Sao Paulo), 1-Marcos (Palmeiras)

Defenders
2-Cafu (AS Roma/Ita), 13-Belletti (Sao Paulo), 16-Junior (Parma/Ita), 6-Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid/Spa), 3-Lucio (Bayer Leverkusen/Ger), 4-Roque Junior (AC Milan/Ita), 14-Anderson Polga (Gremio), 5-Edmilson (Lyon/Fra)

Midfielders
8-Gilberto Silva (Atletico Mineiro), 7-Emerson (AS Roma/Ita), 19-Juninho Paulista (Flamengo), 15-Kleberson (Atletico Paranaense), 18-Vampeta (Corinthians), 11-Ronaldinho (Paris Saint Germain/Fra), 10-Rivaldo (Barcelona/Spa)

Forwards
9-Ronaldo (Inter Milan/Ita), 21-Luizao (Gremio), 20-Edilson (Cruzeiro), 17-Denilson (Real Betis/Spa), 23-Kaka (Sao Paulo)