FOOTBALL IS A TEAM GAME
Mike Holden

Over the last few weeks I've read some pretty overwhelming cases as to why Brazil will sweep all before them at this summer's World Cup finals, yet few have dared to address perhaps the most important issue of how their coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira, will incorporate the likes of Ronaldinho, Kaka, Robinho, Adriano and Ronaldo into a well-balanced unit.

What we already know is that Brazil are the defending world champions and they now have a greater embarrassment of riches at their disposal compared with four years ago, but I think it would be dangerous to draw too many conclusions from events in Japan and South Korea as a barometer for this summer's tournament.

The overall standard of the last World Cup was remarkably poor and whether it was geography or burn-out responsible for such a disappointing showing from most of the European heavyweights, you can be confident the likes of France, Italy and Portugal will offer a more determined challenge in their attempts to reach the latter stages this time around - not to mention Holland and the Czech Republic who were absent altogether in the Far East.

We do know that Brazil will line-up differently under Parreira than they did under his predecessor Luiz Felipe Scolari.

'Big Phil' always preferred a three-man defence with Cafu and Roberto Carlos given freedom as wing-backs but Parreira is a stickler for a flat back four, so it's only natural to assume that the attacking instincts of the two full backs could leave them frequently disjointed as a defensive unit and repeatedly vulnerable to counter-attacks, particularly in the sudden death situation of the knockout stages.

Therefore, while most eyes will be glued to Ronaldinho and Kaka in anticipation of creative magic, it might well be the performances of Emerson and Ze Roberto as a protective blanket in front of defence that is most crucial to Brazil's chances of retaining their crown.

Those opposing Brazil must hope their cavalier approach will eventually bring about their downfall somewhere down the line because it's unlikely that too many unforced errors will surface from a starting eleven that has collected no fewer than 819 caps between them.

That's an average of 74 caps for each player, a figure significantly higher than any other team at the tournament can offer. The only nation who comes remotely close is the USA with an average of 64 caps per player.

'Team USA' might be a rather irritating choice of nickname to traditionalists on this side of the Atlantic but the Americans' greatest strength is undoubtedly their unity.

Bruce Arena is the world's longest-serving national coach after eight years in the job and the USA are the only nation at this summer's finals who can call upon no fewer than nine first-choice players with over 40 international appearances behind them.

Needless to say, it would be foolish to write-off a nation with that kind of stability and collective understanding but the States will probably "surprise" a few people by escaping another tough group again this summer.

The common reasoning offered by those who generally underestimate USA is that they qualify for the World Cup simply by virtue of the weak opposition they face in the CONCACAF federation but surely it's time people realised that the current USA team would probably still have qualified had they been made to do so in South America or even Europe.

The same applies to Mexico, another team who will be arriving in Germany with an enviable team ethic.

Like America, Mexico cannot do anything about their geographical location but instead of allowing the lack of competition to bring down their own standards, it would appear they use routine fixtures in the region as a platform to fine-tune their tactics for the big stage.

Under current coach Ricardo Lavolpe, the Mexicans are arguably the most tactically versatile team in the world, often switching formations during the course of games as a matter of second nature. And although Lavolpe rarely fields the same line-up for two successive games, any variation of his rotation system is likely to produce a team containing over 500 caps worth of experience.

In Europe, such collective experience appears to be more difficult to strike upon. France and the Czech Republic will both field teams with an average of 54 caps per player but the figure for both of those nations is somewhat artificial given the presence of a select few players around the 100-cap mark at the back end of their careers.

For a better indication of current stability and unity in Europe, it's perhaps best to consider those nations who used the fewest number of players in their World Cup qualifying campaigns, a process that points towards two teams who qualified from the same group.

Sweden and Croatia used only 22 and 23 players respectively in their 10 matches from Group Eight of the UEFA qualifying system and it was no surprise that both teams cruised through to Germany 2006 without the need for a play-off as Bulgaria, Hungary, Iceland and Malta all failed in 16 attempts to defeat either nation.

Although Croatia did the double over Sweden in their head-to-heads, Sweden's recent tournament performances with pretty much the same group of players suggests they ought to fancy their chances of progressing further. The Swedes have an average appearance ratio of 52 caps per player, compared with the Croats' 37 caps.

Coach Lars Lagerback has now been in command of the Swedish national team for six years and is a sharp analyst of opponents, which probably goes some way to explaining why Sweden didn't lose any of their eight matches at World Cup 2002 or Euro 2004 inside 90 minutes

And it's also interesting to note that six different players were ever-present in Sweden's 10 qualifying games, with the other five first-choice players having played some part in at least eight of those matches. Now that's what I call continuity!

Contrast this with the situation that perennial underachievers Spain find themselves in as they approach yet another tournament confident of re-writing history. As always, they have an outrageous wealth of talent at their disposal but coach Luis Aragones has still to settle on his preferred formation, never mind his starting eleven.

Whatever Aragones plumps for as his magic combination, the Spaniards can only possibly field three players with 40 games of international experience and it's got to be a worrying sign for a nation with such a long history of failing to strike the required balance and unity in competitions of this nature.

Meanwhile, few people seem to fancy the chances of the African qualifiers this time around - not least the players of Nigeria, Cameroon and Senegal keen to offer the media no shortage of sour grapes in the wake of their own shortcomings.

However, somewhere in the midst of that bitterness there would appear to be an element of good reasoning because it's certainly difficult to fancy the long-term survival of the Ghana, Togo or Angola at a tournament of this magnitude when all of them will be fielding half a team of players who have yet to register 20 international appearances - the vast majority of those naturally coming against fellow African opposition.

In the case of Togo, the situation couldn't possibly be any worse following the departure of coach Stephen Keshi in the wake of his fall-out with star striker Emmanuel Adebayor. Otto Pfister, Keshi's successor, didn't meet up with the Togo squad until last Sunday and now has only four weeks to prepare them for the finals.

It's a farcical situation that does little for the stereotypes that still surround African football but Tunisia could be the team ready to write the headlines for all the right reasons on behalf of the continent this summer.

This will be the Tunisians' third successive appearance at the World Cup and they can count upon a handful of players who will no doubt have benefitted from the experience of their last two appearances, not to mention the hardy work of former France coach Roger Lemerre who has brought a much greater sense of discipline to their approach.

Tunisia are expected to field a team containing seven players who have made over 40 international appearances, with an average of 53 caps per player, and it will be interesting to see how they perform at this level with the confidence they discovered upon winning the 2004 Nations Cup.

Positives: Brazil, USA, Mexico, Sweden, Tunisia

Negatives: Spain, Ghana, Togo, Angola

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