22 Members of the Mighty Samba Team Confirmed

"Heading for Germany”

The world’s strongest soccer team, the Brazilian squad known as the "Samba corps," kicked off a fresh start for the 2006 German World Cup. The 22 members of the entry list for national team have been announced on the 17th prior to the 2006 German World Cup South America Preliminary round match up against Paraguay, which will be happening April 1.

The starting list which the Brazilian coach Carlos Parreira released included Ronaldo (Spain, Real Madrid), Cafu (AC Milan, Italy), Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid, Spain), Ronaldinho (Barcelona, Spain), Edmilson (Olympique Lyon, France), Kaka (AC Milan, Italy), Dida (AC Milan, Italy) and others, consisting of the 14-player main core the team fielded for the 2002 Korea Japan World Cup, and reinforced by eight new members.

But the "master of left foot," Rivaldo, who left Cruzeiro due to objecting team`s coach Vanderley Luxemburgo`s replacement, was excluded because he currently suffers from bad conditioning and other troubles.

The reason why the Brazilian team is receiving the spotlight is because the five-time champion and current FIFA # 1 ranked team might fail to advance to the final round of the World Cup despite its reputation. FIFA had changed the regulations before the German World Cup to make previous champions participate through the preliminary rounds and has canceled automatic advancement to the main rounds. According to this, the 2002 Champion Brazil team has to participate in the regional preliminary rounds.

Brazil currently has two wins and two draws in the South American preliminary rounds as the team stands in third place behind Paraguay and Argentina out of the 10 teams. Four World Cup tickets are assigned to South America, but the strategies of the competing countries such as Columbia, Uruguay, Peru and Chile are toe to toe so if the Brazilian team doesn`t keep its eye on the ball, it could face the worst scenario and to fail to advance.

The Brazilian team strengthened its midfield. It follows the trend of modern soccer to give defensive pressure from solid body strength and connect directly to counterattacks.

Ze Roberto (Bayern Munich, Germany) who is in action in Bundesliga, Juninho Pernambucano (Olympique Lyon, France), Julio Baptista (Sevilla, Spain) and Renato (Santos) have been added to the midfield.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that the "modern soccer king" Ronaldo will skip the Euro Championship quarter-finals on the 24th and the Spain league Kings Cup on the 18th to play in the match up against Paraguay on the 1st of next month.

Soon-Il Kwon stt77@donga.com