IF JUNINHO spends next June sunning himself on the beaches of Rio, or indeed, Redcar, he will probably have a Spanish-based Brazilian with an Italian name, a converted left-back or the most unpopular player in the state of Sao Paulo to thank.
Leonardo, likely to start against England tonight, along with Giovanni and Djalminha, are the men keeping Middlesbrough's midfield maestro out of the current Brazilian squad and possibly out of next year's World Cup.
In USA '94 manager Carlos Alberto Parreira played 4-4-2 with a four-man midfield that, once Rai had been dropped early in the tournament, was composed of essentially defensive players. It was largely left to Romario and Bebeto to conjure up goals for themselves.
On taking over as national coach, Mario Zagalo, who was Parreira's assistant in the United States, announced that henceforth Brazil would play a more attacking 4-3-1-2. The current debate is over who will be the "1", the team's attacking linchpin playing just behind the front men.
Zagalo initially tried out Rivaldo from the Sao Paulo club Palmeiras but a loss of form has meant he has faded from the picture.
Before this tournament, Giovanni, aged 25, was seen as the man in possession. He made his name at Santos wearing Pele's famous No to shirt before becoming the bother" Brazilian at Barcelona. Giovanni has had a few run-ins with Bobby Rob son after being dropped for some games this season and with Ronaldo's apparently imminent transfer to Inter Milan has hinted that he too would like to be on his way.
Zagalo said he did not call up Juninho because he already knew how he played and wanted to try out the 26-year-old Djalminha against European opposition. Juninho felt his relative invisibility (Premiership games, unlike those from Spain and Italy, are not televised in Brazil) cost him his place.
Djalminha, of Palmeiras, Brazil's brightest attacking force of recent years, has the distinction of being voted both the best player in this year's Sao Paulo state championship and the second dirtiest. The son of an international, be has a bad-boy reputation fuelled by a series of incidents on and off the pitch. Early in his career he was involved in a spot of Batty-Le Saux-style fisticuffs with Flamengo team-mate Renato Gaucho. Djalminha was transferred soon after.
Since then he has been a familiar name in referees' notebooks. In the semi-final of this year's Brazilian Cup he was sent off after only is minutes of the second leg for pushing and abusing the referee. The game took place just before the current squad was announced and Zagalo came under pressure to leave Djalminha out, but gave less weight to his sharp tongue than to his sweet left foot.
Djalminha played in the recent 4-2 defeat by Norway but gave way to Giovanni for the France match, coming on as a late substitute.
Criticism in Brazil after the France game centred on the poor quality of service to the front two. Brazil's best chances came when Romario dropped deeper to feed Ronaldo (or Ronaldinho, as be tends to be known in Brazil).
Against Italy Zagalo pushed Paris St Germain's Leonardo, who as a full-back was sent off for smashing Tab Ramos's cheekbone with his elbow in the 1994 World Cup, up from midfield into the playmaking role but it was Denilson's jinking runs from the left which caught the eye. Denilson was a surprise choice, having only been asked to join in the previous day's training game for the last 15 minutes, but appears to have done enough to retain his place against England.
For all Zagalo's talk of putting the art back into football he is committed to retaining a solid screen in front of the defence, currently made up of the veteran Dunga, the tough 1994 captain, and Mauro Silva of Depoitivo La Coruna.
So far no one has stamped his name on the "1" position, so there is still time for the man voted the second best player in the Premiership to force his way into his country's top 22. By that time, of course, Juninho might no longer be a Premiership player.
The fact that Zagalo spent the two years after Brazil's 1994 World Cup triumph turning the national team into an under-23 side for the Atlanta Olympics meant that players such as Djalrninha, now 26, missed out on valuable experience. Djalminha has only six caps, the 25-year-old Giovanni 12. The irony now is that Juninho, who played in Atlanta, is making way in the run-up to France '98.
Brazilians like to boast that the current crop of young players is the best in years. But after years of often meaningless friendlies, Zagalo seems to be returning to the core of the 1994 side. In addition to the midfield trio, Taffarel, Aldair, Cafu and Romario all played in USA '94 and even Ronaldo was a squad member.
