Brilliant attack may not save Brazil

Down Rio way, it seems, there are precious few who just like watching Brazil right now.Everyone, it seems, has a specific view on the team and as usual almost all reckon they'd do a better job of it than team boss Luiz Felipe Scolari, a man who many Brazilians both here and back at home talk about as though he has become a deranged disciple of Ossie Ardiles.Emmet Malone reports from Shizuoka

That Argentinian apparently believed he could win the English league with a Tottenham team featuring a strong attack, weak defence and virtually no midfield. So at least we can understand where those 150 million Brazilians are coming from.

The rest of us have been delighted by the antics of a team that find themselves suddenly rated as tournament favourites ahead of tomorrow's quarter-final against England at Shizuoka, but this leaves the diehard Brazilian fans strangely unmoved, it appears.

But the players have good reason to believe that a win tomorrow will put them firmly within striking distance of a fifth world title.

"I think that the Brazilian media and public are expecting too much," said Rivaldo yesterday, reacting to the severe criticism of the team's performances.

Brazil have, after all, accumulated four wins and 13 goals so far in this tournament.

With nine goals between them Rivaldo and Ronaldo have, at least, already proved their own critics wrong.

The pair's ability to produce the goods so soon after persistent injury problems had cleared up is now inarguable, but whether the team as a whole can continue to confound their critics remains very much open to question.

Scolari is said by his players to be preoccupied with the team's defence, but on the evidence of the performances against Costa Rica and Belgium it's an obsession not yet shared by the crucial trio of Lucio, Roque Junior and Edmilson.

The inclination of the latter pair, in particular, to abandon their posts and press forward on Monday might against Belgium presented a very average side with ample opportunity to dump another big name out of the tournament.

More than once the South Americans had only their rejuvenated goalkeeper Marcos (a hand injury almost ended his career last year) for keeping Belgium at bay.

But even with Michael Owen struggling to fight off a groin strain ahead of tomorrow's kick-off England are unlikely to be as easily subdued.

"The English will be a major obstacle," Rivaldo admitted yesterday, adding that "every time I have played against an English team with Barca it has been a totally different way of playing, but certainly not what it was. In the past their football was about high balls and power but that has changed and they now know how to play."

Ronaldo, meanwhile, paid compliments to a side that he says is made up of "world-class players" and which he says has "improved so much" in recent times.

"There is no fear, however," he continued. "We have been in this situation before and if we are to become world champions then we have to deal with it.

"This is the most attractive match of the World Cup so far but it is also a great opportunity for us to beat England and move a step closer to reaching our dream."

Both men identified David Beckham as posing the greatest threat to their smooth progression, although to judge by the vague responses to questioning from the English media regarding the rest of the team, it's entirely possible that neither can name more than two or three of their opponents.

Their coach, one presumes, can, but he too appeared primarily concerned yesterday with Beckham's set-piece plays, insisting that the team spend a good portion of their training session preparing to defend against them.

"He is a very good player and England make it very difficult from set pieces," said Scolari afterwards, "so that is what we have worked on."

Quite how the English defence might ready itself to face the boys from Brazil is anybody's guess.

So far, though, Rio Ferdinand and co have conceded just one goal in the tournament, which suggests that they might, at the very least, do a better job of coping with them than anyone has managed so far.

Indeed, England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has billed tomorrow's game as a clash between the competition's best attack and its best defence, although the day's more decisive battle may well turn out to be at the other end of the pitch.

Word had it yesterday that Owen would return to training this morning and if he does then England will possess the pace to punish any Brazilian walkabouts. But if the 22-year-old fails to make it, Eriksson's choice of replacement is likely to be either Robbie Fowler or Darius Vassell (himself troubled by a sore back over the past few days) and some of the bite will be gone out of the English attack.

England's other injury worry is Paul Scholes, but he, too, is expected to train today, and if both prove their fitness then Eriksson is expected to stick with the 11 that beat Denmark comfortably if a little unimpressively.

Scolari, meanwhile, has dropped hints about a possible shake up but may well also persist with the starting line-up he sent out against Belgium.

Eriksson says that if his team plays as it did against Argentina in the group stages it can win again tomorrow.

And the Brazilians readily admitted yesterday that should they concede a goal to this England side they may well find themselves in difficulty.

With the two countries not having played competitively since Jairzinho's goal at Guadalajara in 1970 left them top of their group over the then reigning world champions, there will not, at least, be any great psychological baggage for Eriksson's players to overcome.

In fact their run of competitive games without a defeat, which stretches back to the 1-0 loss to Germany at Wembley, compares very favourably to that of their opponents, who lost more games in qualifying - six - than any other of the 32 finalists.

As they count down the hours to tomorrow's kick-off at Shizuoka, however, the players from both camps will think little of those qualifiers and a lot more of the place in Sunday week's final that looks to be there for the taking for whichever side wins what promises to be an enthralling encounter.