The Brazil national football team is the national team of Brazil and is managed by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) that represents Brazil in international football competitions. They are the most successful national football team in the history of the World Cup, with five championships (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002). A common quip about football is: "The English invented it, the Brazilian perfected it." Currently ranked second by FIFA, Brazil is consistently among the strongest football nations in the world and is the only team to have played in every World Cup.

The first match of the Brazil national football team is generally considered to be a 1914 match between a Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo select team and the English club Exeter City. Brazil won 2–0 with goals by Oswaldo Gomes and Osman, whilst others claim a 3–3 draw. In contrast to future successes, the nation's early appearances were far from brilliant, partly due to internal strife within Brazilian football over professionalism, which rendered the Brazilian Football Confederation unable to field full-strength teams.

For the 1954 FIFA World Cup, in Switzerland, the Brazilian team was almost completely renovated, so as to forget the Maracanã defeat, but still had a group of good players, including Nílton Santos, Djalma Santos, and Didi. Brazil didn't go very far though. The quarterfinals saw the favorites Hungary beat Brazil 4–2 in one of the ugliest matches in football history, which would become infamous as the Battle of Berne.

Brazil, to the surprise of many, went 24 years without winning a World Cup or even participating in a final. Their struggles ended at the 1994 tournament in the United States, where a solid, if unspectacular side headed by the likes of Romário, Bebeto, Dunga, Taffarel, and Jorginho won the World Cup for a then-record 4th time. Highlights of their campaign included a 1–0 victory over the hosts in the round of 16, a sensational 3–2 win over the Dutch in the quarter-finals (often cited as the game of the tournament) and a 1–0 win over the Swedes in the semis. This set up a classic confrontation, Brazil vs. Italy, in the final. After a dour and unexciting 0–0 draw, penalty kicks loomed, and when Roberto Baggio lifted his spot kick over the crossbar, Brazil were champions once again. A new era of dominance had begun.

Brazil finished runner-up in the 1998 FIFA World Cup. After a very respectable campaign during which they beat Netherlands on penalties in the semi-final following a 1–1 draw with goals from Ronaldo and Patrick Kluivert, the team lost to hosts France 3–0 in a problematic final game. Brazilian marking at defensive set pieces was poor, and Zinédine Zidane was able to score two headed goals from France's corner kicks. Also, Brazilian star Ronaldo suffered an epileptic seizure a few hours before the match. Many criticized the decision to reinstate Ronaldo into the starting lineup as he put in a poor performance.

Fuelled by the scintillating play of the "Three R's" (Ronaldo, Rivaldo, and Ronaldinho), Brazil won its fifth championship at the 2002 FIFA World Cup held in South Korea and Japan. When the groups were drawn, Brazil seemed to have been lucky; Their adversaries would be Turkey, China and Costa Rica. At the end, it turned out that Turkey finished the tournament in third place. Brazil went on beating all three opponents, scoring 11 goals and conceding only three, and topping the group.

In Brazil's opening game against Turkey, Rivaldo fell to the ground clutching his face after Turkey's Hakan Ünsal had kicked the ball at his legs. Hakan Ünsal, who had already been booked, was sent off while Rivaldo jumped to his feet and continued playing. Rivaldo escaped suspension but was fined £5,180 for play-acting, he became the first player to be punished in FIFA's crackdown on "simulation" and "diving".

Next they defeated Belgium 2–0, in the most difficult match for Brazil in the tournament. Against England in the quarter finals, Brazil won 2–1. Ronaldinho scored the winner with a remarkable lofted free kick and also assisted teammate Rivaldo for their first goal, but was sent off for stamping on the right ankle of England's Danny Mills. The semifinal was against Turkey, which Brazil had faced in their group. Again, this match was difficult, as Brazil won 1–0 with a goal by Ronaldo. Rivaldo had scored one goal each in all five game up to this one but did not manage to hit the target in the sixth. He had seemed all set to repeat Jairzinho´s great achievement in 1970 when he scored in every game of the World Cup.

The final was between two of the most successful teams in the competition's history: Germany and Brazil. Incredibly, the teams had never played each other in the World Cup before, besides a match between Brazil and East Germany in the 1974 FIFA World Cup. German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn had been the tournament's best keeper, but could not maintain that level of play, as Ronaldo vanquished his France '98 demons, scoring both goals in the Brazilian 2–0 triumph.

The Brazilian team won the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa. Although they started with a shaky victory over Egypt with a 4–3 win with a last minute penalty as Egypt is also credited as the only African team to score three goals against Brazil, they comfortably beat the USA, as well as Italy, both with a 3–0 scoreline. After beating South Africa in the semi-final with a late free kick, they went on to a rematch against USA in the final which they won 3–2, after coming in 2–0 down at half-time, to seal their third Confederations Cup title. Kaká was named as the player of the tournament and Luís Fabiano won the top goalscorer award with five goals in five matches.

Brazil does not have a home national stadium like many other national teams and as such rotate their home World Cup qualifying matches through various venues: the Estádio do Maracanã or Estádio Olímpico João Havelange in Rio de Janeiro, the Estádio do Morumbi in São Paulo, the Mineirão in Belo Horizonte, the Estádio Mané Garrincha in the capital Brasília and the Estádio Beira-Rio in Porto Alegre. Some smaller provincial stadia were used in the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Since September 2006, Brazil have played many international friendlies at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium in London. After their initial 3-0 win over Argentina drew a near sell-out attendance and was screened live on BBC Two, Brazil have returned to the ground regularly, facing Portugal and Sweden and lastly against Italy in February 2009.

Brazil's first team colours were white with blue collars, but following defeat in the Maracanã at the 1950 World Cup, the colours were criticised for lacking patriotism. With permission from the Brazilian Sports Confederation, the newspaper Correio da Manhã held a competition to design a kit incorporating the four colours of the Brazilian flag. The winning design was a yellow jersey with green trim and blue shorts with white trim drawn by Aldyr Garcia Schlee, a nineteen year old from Pelotas. The new colours were first used in March 1954 in a match against Chile, and have been used ever since.

The use of blue as the away kit colour dates from the 30s, but it became the permanent second choice accidentally in the 1958 World Cup final. Brazil's opponents were Sweden, who also wear yellow, and a draw gave to the home team Sweden the right to play in yellow. Brazil, who travelled with no spare kit, hurriedly purchased a set of blue shirts and sewed on emblems cut from their yellow shirts. Now lets have a look over Brazil traditional rivalry.

The Argentina and Brazil football rivalry is a highly competitive sports rivalry that exists between the national football teams of the two countries, as well as their respective sets of fans. Games between the two teams, even those that are only friendly matches, are often marked by notable and sometimes controversial incidents. This Rivalry is also called 'The Battle of the South Americans'.

The origins of the football rivalry between Argentina and Brazil can be traced to before football became so popular in both countries. During the colonization of the Americas, Spain and Portugal often fought each other to gain control over vast territories.

Today few remember wars and other political confrontations between both countries, and only recall matches, victories, goals and other sport-related incidents. Their rivalry is found in almost all sports, but a men's football match between Argentina and Brazil is one that neither side wants to lose, and often acquires more importance than the championship within which it takes place. To exemplify the intensity of this rivalry, is enough to remember that after the 1946 incidents, the two teams did not play against each other for ten years; either team would decline to play a given cup so that they would never have to play against the neighbouring country.

After a 3-1 victory over Argentina in Rosario, on September 5, 2009, Brazil qualified for the  FIFA World Cup 2010 . To watch the thrill now fans can get the Brazil world cup tickets online.

Brazil have always been a toughest team among the other soccer nations, and got billions of fans all over the world. Fans can get the football tickets for the FIFA world cup 2010 and can enjoy the mega event live into the play ground.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/football-articles/brazil-in-fifa-world-cup-2010-1508240.html

Roy brown
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