International Friendly Preview: Brazil - Algeria
 
What: International Friendly, Brazil - Algeria

When: Wednesday 22/08/07, 18:30 (Paris Time)

Where: Stade de la Masson, Montpellier, France

Background

It’s time for Dunga’s Brazil to swing into action for the first time since the conquest of the Copa América in Venezuela a little over a month ago (15/07/07).  The testy tactician has been vindicated with the win and has surprised many by being able to tough out the storm of criticism that hit his footballing philosophy.  The question now is if Dunga is able to blend the stars that begged out of Venezuela back into the mix.

The Canarinha (Canary Yellow) rivals are Les Fennecs (The Desert Foxes) of Algeria who are currently battling it out for a place in the sun in Group 8 of the CAN (African Nations Cup) along with Guinea, Gambia and Cape Verde.  Corsican Coach Jean-Michel Cavalli (ex-Créteil, Gazélec Ajaccio, Al-Riyadh, Lille OSC and Al Nasr) will be demanding the most of his men against Brazil.

Team News

BRAZIL

To refresh memories of the last match played by Brazil it was a tasty 3-0 gutting of arch-rivals Argentina.  The Albiceleste came to the table as firm favourites after a string of flowing wins that oozed classy football but were torn apart by a Brazil that eschewed the finer points of technique in favour of grit and solidity.  The line-up (with the defensive-minded midfield that so irritated Brazilians back home) was as follows:

BRAZIL (4-4-2): 12 - Doni; 2 - Maicon; 3 - Alex; 4 - Juan and 6 - Gilberto; 17 - Josué, 5 - Mineiro, 7 - Elano, (13 - Daniel Alves) and 19 - Júlio Baptista; 11 - Robinho (10 - Diego) and 9 - Vágner Love (18 - Fernando)
Coach: Dunga, Assistant Coach: Jorginho

In the afterglow of the triumph Dunga made it clear that he will be basing his future line-ups on the men he trusted in Venezuela, although he also extended a possible forgiving hand towards ‘renegade’ duo Ronaldinho Gaúcho and Kaká.  Dunga has dribbled any outright affirmation of who’ll be fielded in Montpellier, including the twosome who refused the call-ups to rest their bones after long club seasons.

"The person who calls up is the Coach but the person who decides who plays is each individual player with his performance in training", explained Dunga before embarking for France at Guarulhos international airport in São Paulo, although he repeated his desire to reward those who exchanged time on a beach for time serving Brazil in Venezuela; "we want to give continuity to the work we started", he added.

A setback to such continuity is that the Coach has had to cut four defenders from his original call-up list due to injuries.  Three centre-backs – Juan, Luisão and Lúcio – as well as left-back Gilberto.  The centre-backs have been replaced by young Brazil-based players Alex Silva (São Paulo FC – Luisão’s ‘little’ brother), Thiago Silva (Fluminense – no relation to Luisão or Alex Silva) and Miranda (São Paulo FC, on loan from Sochaux, France.).

With Alex (Chelsea) out of the list that immediately means that the only regular face from Venezuela – apart from goalkeeper Doni – in the Brazilian rearguard is Maicon (Internazionale).  In midfield Dunga can – if he should choose to – repeat the winning combo of Josué, Mineiro, Elano, and Júlio Baptista; the line-up that was slammed as being ‘un-Brazilian’ and over-defensive but worked a treat against Argentina.

The only ‘but’ is that such a choice would see the star duo of Ronaldinho Gaúcho and Kaká benched simultaneously: something that CBF (Confederação Brasileira de Futebol – Brazilian Football Confederation) chief Ricardo Teixeira isn’t exactly fond of seeing despite his public stance as the Swiss third party that now organises (and pays hard currency for) the friendlies wants to see media-friendly faces on the field.

Up front it looks likely that Brazil will field the familiar partnership of Robinho and Vágner Love, Ronaldo Fenômeno still apparently persona-non-grata despite his rebirth at AC Milan.  The leaking of a report saying that he suffers from a thyroid problem that would mean that his pre-World Cup ballooning wasn’t due to gluttony and arrogance didn’t make a difference.

ALGERIA

French Coach Jean-Michel Cavalli has called up a total of fourteen Europe-based players for Alegria’s friendly match against Brazil.  Defender Farid Cheklam joins the Desert Foxes for the first time, while France-based Arrache Slim is back after close to a year in the wilderness.

“It is a tough match and also a good preparation for our decisive qualifier against Gambia next month,” Cavalli said recently, Algeria currently in second place three points above the Gambians with five matches played in Group 8 of the qualifiers.  Their first place was lost in June to Guinea with a surprise home defeat.

The hosts went down on the 16th June at the Stade 5 Juillet 1962 in Algiers, Fode Mansare and Pascal Feindouno scoring the only goals in a 0-2 defeat that meant that Guinea leapfrogged Algeria on goal difference, both level on points with eight apiece.  The result was a shock after the previous good showing against none other than Argentina.

Despite losing 4-3, Algeria gave the Albiceleste a real run for their money at Barça’s Camp Nou on the 5th June 2007, a Nadir Belhadj brace and a Anthar Yahia goal only being bettered by penalties from Tevez and Lionel Messi (who scored another in play) and an Esteban Cambiasso goal.  The fact that both Algeria and Brazil put three apiece past Argentina – although with different final results – is a rare common thread.

This Montpellier match will actually be the fourth meeting between Algeria and Brazil.  Their last meeting dates back over two decades to the 1986 World Cup in Mexico with the Seleção winning 1-0. On that occasion the deadlock at Guadalajara’s Jalisco stadium was broken by a Careca goal in the 66th minute.

Call-Up Lists

BRAZIL

Goalkeepers: Doni (Roma-ITA) and Júlio Cesar (Internazionale-ITA)

Wing-backs: Maicon (Internazionale-ITA), Daniel Alves (Sevilla-SPA) and Kléber (Santos-BRA)

Centre-Backs: Miranda (São Paulo-BRA), Naldo (Werder Bremen-GER), Thiago Silva (Fluminense-BRA) and Alex Silva (São Paulo-BRA)

Midfielders: Mineiro (Hertha Berlin- GER), Fernando (Bordeaux-FRA), Lucas (Liverpool-ENG), Josué (Wolfsburg-GER), Elano (Manchester City-ENG), Diego (Werder Bremen- GER), Ronaldinho Gaúcho (FC Barcelona-SPA), Júlio Baptista (Real Madrid-SPA) and Kaká (AC Milan-ITA)

Forwards: Robinho (Real Madrid-SPA), Vágner Love (CSKA Moscow-RUS) and Rafael Sóbis (Betis-SPA)

ALGERIA

Goalkeepers: Lounes Gaouaoui (JS Kabylie), Moahmed Ousserir (CR Belouzidad)

Defenders: Madjid Bougherra (Sheffield Wednesday, England), Farid Cheklam (ASO Chlef), Ismael Bouzid (Kaiserslautern, Germany), Larbi Hosni (Mouloudia Alger), Anthar Yahia (VfL Bochum, Germany), Abderraouf Zarabi (AJ Ajaccio, France)

Midfielders: Arrache Slim (Marsellie, France), Yacine Bezzaz (Valenciennes, France), Nadir Belhadj (Sedan, France), Lazhar Hadj Aissa (Entente Setif), Yazid Mansouri (Lorient, France), Karim Ziani (Marsellie, France)

Strikers: Rafik Saifi (Lorient, France), Hameur Bouazza (Fulham, England), Nouredine Daham (Kaiserslautern, Germany), Karim Matmour (SC Freiburg, Germany), Ghilas Kamel (Vitoria Guimaraes, Portugal)