[Alexx]

Brazil faces Paraguay next Tuesday (18-07) in the Del Chaco stadium in Asuncion for the ninth time in World Cup qualifiers. With four new faces in the line up – Edimílson, Fabio Luciano, Marques and Djalminha – expectation is for a match full of surprises.

Brazil and Paraguay have met a total of 65 times in the past. Of these, the competition they have played the most in has been the Copa America (formerly the Sul-Americano), with 26 meetings. They have played in eight World Cup qualifiers, and Brazil has won six and drawn twice. Brazil won the three games played in the Defensores Del Chaco stadium (1 - 0 / 2 - 0 / 3 - 0).

The figures put Brazil ahead. Since the first meeting on 12 October 1921, for the Sul-Americano – Brazil has won 42 times against 07 victories for Paraguay and 16 draws. Brazil has scored a total of 152 goals and only let in 51.

Brazil goes into the next stage of the 2002 World Cup qualifiers with at least the statistical upper hand. The squad leaves for Asuncion on 17, returning to Iguacu Falls after the game. The team will train until 25 July when they head for Sao Paulo.

 

[Alexx]

Most of the national squad arrived in Iguacu Falls last Sunday. Roque Junior and Dida, who had commitments with Milan, Evanilson, who was not released by Borussia Dortmund, and Alex, who is on his honeymoon, were not part the team. The 18 players began training on Monday with a warm up run in the morning.

Roque Junior and Dida are ending the pre-season trials in Milan and according to Wanderley Luxemburgo are the players that he will miss the most. “They will probably be in the starting line up against Paraguay. But we will have to wait and see how they are when they arrive here. Unfortunately this is reality at the moment and I am without key three players due to their club’s decision not to allow them to travel.

The bad weather in Iguacu has limited the training schedule. And players could only go on a light training run at about 11:30.

 

[Ze da Fiel]

just watch for the stones of defensores del chaco..they are pretty common overtheir!
We did win the copa america last year their

 

[Alexx]

...so their defenders are stoned, Ze ?
(I understood what you really meant, btw)

Brazil take on Paraguay on 18 July in the Defensores Del Chaco stadium for the ninth time in World Cup qualifying games. And if football statistics are worth the paper they are written on, Brazil can be considered the out and out favourites. History has been kind to Brazil with six wins and two draws. What is more: four of these six wins were games played in Asuncion, In other words - Brazil has won all the games that it has played against Paraguay on their home turf.

The two drawn games were played in Maracana, both were 1 - 1. However, it is worth emphasising that on both these occasions Brazil needed to do no more than draw to classify for the World Cup in question. By mere coincidence, Brazil has begun all its World Cup campaigns against Paraguay away from home - as this year, and by winning the first game has always been in a comfortable position for the second leg.

The last time Brazil and Paraguay met was on 23 June 1985, playing for a place in the Mexico World Cup. The game was a 1-all draw in Maracana, Socrates scoring for Brazil and Julio Cesar Romero – Romerito, of Fluminense – for Paraguay.

Brazil had already beaten Paraguay (2 - 0) and Bolivia (2 - 0) and were virtually guaranteed their place in the Cup, but even so 139,000 people turned out to watch the game. The referee was Jose Martins Bazan from Uruguay.

Tele Santana played a strong team: Carlos; Leandro, Oscar, Edinho, Junior; Cerezo, Socrates, Zico; Renato Gaucho, Casagrande and Éder (Alemao).

Paraguay coach Cayetano Re called on the services of Almeida; Caceres, Delgado, Zavala, Jacquet (Torales); Benitez, Sandoval, Romerito; Nunez, Ferreyra and Mendoza.

The results of the games between Brazil and Paraguay during World Cup qualifiers are shown below:

1954
Paraguai 0 - 1 Brazil – in Asuncion
Brazil 4 - 1 Paraguay – in Rio

1957
Did not meet

1969

Paraguay 0 - 3 Paraguay – in Asuncion
Brazil 1 - 0 Paraguay – in Rio

1977

Paraguay 0 - 1 Brazil – in Asuncion
Brazil 1 - l Paraguay – in Rio

1981
Did not meet

1985
Paraguay 0 - 2 Brazil – in Asuncion
Brazil 1 - l Paraguay – in Rio
1989
Did not meet

1993
Did not meet

 

[Ze da Fiel]

Conceicao and Djalminha in!

Wel luxemburgo dropped vampeta and put Flavio conceicao, and put Djalminha in hte place of the injured Ronaldinho.
Really he should take off ze roberto and put Djalminha with marques up front together with franca..that would almost match up the way palmeiras played in 96 with their almost unbeatable team.
teh line up should be

dida

cafu edmilson roque JR R.Carlos

Conceicao Sampaio

Ze Roberto Rivaldo

Franca and Djalminha

why not put Djalminha in midfield and put maruqes to feed Franca? Although Vampeta plays in Corinthians i'm happy he's off the team...just to teach him how to talk to Corinthians supporters properly!
if ronaldinho does not pass the fitness test today, Luizao will be called up...and boy does he love to play South American games!

 

[falcao]

yeah, marques should be up front with franca and djalminha should be behind them. sometimes luxemburgo has an obvious choice to make and then does something completely different. he's crazy.

and this midfield is going to suck with sampaio and ze roberto at the same time. those guys are awful right now.

alex was brazil's best player in the uruguay game. where is he now?

 

[Ze da Fiel]

he is sub falcao,
and C Sampaio is the right man for the job...we need some tackling and some possesion in the middle and he is the man!

 

[falcao]

cesar sampaio is the right man? we will see about that, ze da fiel. emerson will come back for argentina and make everybody forget about sampaio. sampaio is a hard worker, but emerson is much better. (the only reason he makes all those horrible tackles is that luxemburgo tells him to do it. in the uruguay game, he only made a few fouls.)

 

[Ze da Fiel]

falcao,
how many times have you seen sampaio play in your life? I have unfortunaltely seen him play agaisnt me all my life, and really I would really like that what he did for palemiras he did for Corinthians.
About Emerson, he fouls because that is his style and not because Luxemburgo tells him too! why don't the other defensive midfielders foul as much?

 

[Ze da Fiel]

the molding of an attack

Finally the team is finally trainieng well, and the attack is scoring goals.
Yesterday's training session the first tema beat the second team by 3x0, Franca , Rivaldo and Flavio conceicao scored the goals.
The team looks like its finding itself....and I hope we can get a 2x0 win...no more than that, cause we don't want to get to overconfident agasint Argentina.....let them think that it wil be easy....casue we are gonna kill them!
Agtaisnt Argentina, ronalidnho gaucho wil be back, and i think he will drop Ze Roberto. DOn't think Emerson or Antonio carlos should come back if the defense plays well, after all everyone in defense no themsleves very well for always playing together in the clubs
Finally we are finidng the edge, in midfield, creativity looks to be back, and the balanca of attack and defense! Let's hoep we do this in the game aswell!
But then again, our sub team is better than the paraguayan team!

 

[falcao]

ze da fiel, the brazilian sub team also is better than ecuador and peru. but look at what happened.

about sampaio: i know he's a good player. but his time in the national team has come and gone. will he be in the 2002 world cup team? NO! so he should not be there now. instead of using players who will be part of the penta-world cup 2002 team, we are using players who will stop playing for the national team soon: aldair, cesar sampaio, antonio carlos. there are many young guys ready to take their places. finally aldair is gone. i hope antonio carlos is next, then sampaio.

 

[Ze da Fiel]

you never know falcao, its nly 2 years to the WC and he his still running very well.
yesterday's trainig session was simply BRILLIANT....the time looks like it is finding itself...it was 7x0 agaisnt the local team of foz do Iguacu...but the important thing was that the team felt loose in the field, giving nice balls, creating chances, and finilizing
Rivaldo scored a hat trick, nad Franca put in onw of the golas.....it looks like we are finally getting that magical touch back! let's hope tuesday we can play the way we are training!

 

[Alexx]

Brazil plays Paraguay for the 66th time this Tuesday. The two teams have a history that stretches back 79 years, and there have been several examples of players crossing the border to play in Brazil with varying degrees of success.


The long line of stars from Paraguay began in Flamengo back in the 40s, when Modesto Bria joined the ranks in Gavea. The attacker made his name known in the clubs history books, and helped win the Rio state championship three years in a row - the first time this was achieved - in 1942-43-44 and made up an unforgettable trio with Bigua and Jaime. When he finally hung up his boots as a player he took to helping Flamengo from the sidelines.

Flamengo contracted several other players from Paraguay. From Cerro Porteno, keeper Sinforiano García played for the club between 1949 and 55, helping Fla to their second run of three championships.

Another successful transfer was full back Reyes. Kiko Reyes was Rio state champion in 1972 and showed that not all defenders need to be bulky to be successful.

Another star from Paraguay was keeper Benitez. Who proved to be a safe pair of hands between 1977 and 83. At this time, Inter de Porto Alegre had the services of Jose de La Cruz Benitez and won the Brazilian championship in 1979, as well as the state title four times.

Perhaps the best-known player from Paraguay was Julio Cesar Romero who played for Fluminense. He was Brazilian champion in 1984 and won the Rio state championship in 1984 85.

Tradition continued in the eighties with the fine winger Arce joining Gremio and full back Rivarola Palmeiras. Francisco Javier Arce became a club hero, particularly in Olimpico, where he won almost all the competitions the team played in - the Libertadores in 1995, the Brazilian championship in 1996, two state titles in 1995 and 96, and the Copa do Brasil in 97.

Last but not least is full back Carlos Alberto Gamarra who played for the Corinthians. He was voted best player in the 1998 World Cup, and has played for many years in Brazilian football. Gamarra now plays for Flamengo and continues to show just how skilful the are of defence is. Once again Flamengo has bet its chips on a player from neighbouring Paraguay.

 

[Alexx]

With only two days remaining before the World Cup 2002 qualifier against Paraguay, coach Wanderley Luxemburgo has admitted that the team's defence still worries him. The problem appears to be that centre-backs Edmílson and Roqu Júnior have only played together twice, and are sometimes leaving big gaps in the defence when pulled out of position. Luxemburgo intends to concentrate the remaining training session on this problem.

Another preoccupation for Luxemburgo is handling crosses into the Brazilian area - Paraguayan defender Gamarra and striker Roque Santa Cruz are reknowned for their scoring ability in these situations. But one thing the coach claims not to be worried about is the lack of goal opportunities from midfielders Zé Roberto and Flávio Conceição. "Their function is to defend, not to score goals. This is the mission of other players", he stated.

Defender Edmílson, currently in the midst of a transfer wrangle with English team Arsenal, has been selected to partner Roque Júnior in central defence after a series of fine displays in training. Coach Wanderley Luxemburgo said of the São Paulo defender "He has experience and versatility", and chose him over Corinthians defender Fábio Luciano. Edmílson gets his chance thanks to regular centre-back Antônio Carlos picking up a one-game suspension in the game against Uruguay - but Carlos looks likely to return for the upcoming game against Argentina.

The team that plays Paraguay is expected to be composed of: Dida; Cafu, Roque Júnior, Edmílson, Roberto Carlos; Flávio Conceição, César Sampaio, Zé Roberto, Rivaldo; Djalminha, França.