Brazil at the 2006 FIFA World Cup

Brazil's qualifying for the event marked the first time in history in which a returning champion (the country had won the 2002 World Cup) had to play for a berth in the next World Cup — that had a direct effect in the organization of the 2006 World Cup: since the 1990 World Cup, the competition has had an opening match, which is played immediately after the Opening Ceremonies; until the last World Cup, this match was a privilege of the winner of the previous World Cup, who would play its first match as the first match of the given World Cup, against an opponent from its group, as decided by the official draw (in the 1990 World Cup, Argentina, winner of the 1986 FIFA World Cup, played Cameroon in the opening match; in 1994, Germany, winner of the 1990 World Cup, played Bolivia; in 1998, Brazil played Scotland and in 2002 France played Senegal). As of the 2006 World Cup, because of the change in the rules, with the last champion no longer having a secured berth in the competition, the opening match has become another privilege of the host nation (in the 2006 World Cup, Germany, as the host nation, played Costa Rica in the opening match). Despite being the returning champion, the Brazilian team debuted, against Croatia, only four days after the Opening Ceremonies and the opening match.

The national team qualified with more ease than in previous years — for the 1994 World Cup, Brazil only qualified in the very last match, against Uruguay, where a defeat would have meant missing the finals; For the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Brazil had four different managers, and was once in serious jeopardy of being left out of the event.

The Qualifying for the 2006 World Cup repeated the format installed for the previous Qualifying tournament, in 2000 and 2001 (for the 2002 World Cup): all ten South American countries played each other, in two-leg matches, with the top four teams qualifying automatically for the World Cup, whereas the fifth best team would play the champion of Oceania, which was Australia, for a berth in the World Cup.

Brazil finished first, winning the Qualifying tournament. The results were the following:

Results

Date	Venue	Opponent	Score
September 7, 2003	Estadio Metropolitano, Barranquilla	Colombia	2:1
September 10, 2003	Vivaldão, Manaus	Ecuador	1:0
November 16, 2003	Estadio Nacional, Lima	Peru	1:1
November 19, 2003	Pinheirão, Curitiba	Uruguay	3:3
March 31, 2004	Defensores del Chaco, Asunción	Paraguay	0:0
June 2, 2004	Mineirão, Belo Horizonte	Argentina	3:1
June 6, 2004	Estadio Nacional, Santiago	Chile	1:1
September 5, 2004	Morumbi, São Paulo	Bolivia	3:1
October 9, 2004	Estadio José Pachencho Romero, Maracaibo	Venezuela	5:2
October 13, 2004	Estádio Rei Pelé, Maceió	Colombia	0:0
November 17, 2004	Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa, Quito	Ecuador	0:1
March 27, 2005	Serra Dourada, Goiânia	Peru	1:0
March 30, 2005	Centenario, Montevideo	Uruguay	1:1
June 4, 2005	Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre	Paraguay	4:1
June 7, 2005	Monumental de Nuñez, Buenos Aires	Argentina	1:3
September 3, 2005	Estádio Mané Garrincha, Brasília	Chile	5:0
October 8, 2005	Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz	Bolivia	1:1
October 11, 2005	Mangueirão, Belém	Venezuela	3:0

The final standings were the following:

The Brazilian squad preparing for the World Cup in Weggis, Switzerland

A month before the start of the competition, the Brazilian national team took quarters in the small Swiss town of Weggis, at the Weggis Park Hotel. The objective was to get the team accustomed to Germany's climate while maintaining the focus on the competition. The preparation started on May 22 and ended on June 4.

During this time, the Brazilian team played two friendly matches. The first was on May 28, against the under-20 team of the Brazilian club Fluminense, which was in Europe to play a tournament and took a detour to Switzerland to meet and play the national team; this match ended 13–1 in favour of the national team.[1] The second match was played against the state team of the Swiss Lucerne. The match took place in Basel, at the St. Jakob Stadion and was won by the Brazilian team with a score of 8 goals to nul.[2]

For this period in Switzerland, the Brazilian Football Confederation sold the rights to explore the presence of the national team to a Swiss events enterprise. In exchange for the declared amount of US$1.2 million, the Swiss company was allowed to sell tickets for the practice sessions — which were sold at €40 each, for about 5,000 people per session —, negotiate permissions for vending points to operate within the training facility and surrounding area — which were sold for about €2,000 plus 10% of the profit — and to organize and explore the friendly matches that the national team was to play during its preparation in Switzerland.

On May 31, only 13 days away from the team's debut in the World Cup, defender Edmílson was cut from the squad due to a knee injury he had sustained during the practice session the day prior. São Paulo's Mineiro was called to take his place.

Upon leaving Weggis, on June 4 the national team made a stop in Geneva on June 5 to play its last friendly match before arriving in Germany. There, the team played New Zealand at the Stade de Genève – refereed by Jerome Laperriere – defeating New Zealand 4–0.[3]

Finally, the team travelled to the German town of Königstein im Taunus, which invested the declared amount of €500,000 in order to prepare for receiving the Brazilian team.

Traditionally, the host nation (in this case, Germany) is the first seed, being placed in Group A. On December 6, 2005, so as to prevent a possible match between Brazil and Germany before the final, FIFA placed the previous competition champion as the sixth seed, in Group F. The opponents of the Brazilian team in the first stage were, respectively, Croatia, Australia and Japan.

Pld = matches played, YC = yellow cards, RC = red cards.

¹ Mineiro replaced Edmílson, who was cut due to a knee injury.

All times local (UTC+2)

Round robin

See also: 2006 FIFA World Cup - Group F

Group F

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1.  Brazil	9	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6
2.  Australia	4	3	1	1	1	5	5	0
3.  Croatia	2	3	0	2	1	2	3	-1
4.  Japan	1	3	0	1	2	2	7	-5

First Round

Brazil vs Croatia

Tuesday, June 13, 2006
21:00 - Olympiastadion, Berlin - Attendance: 72,000

Brazil	1 – 0 (1 – 0)	Croatia
Kaká 44'

Start line-up of the match

BRAZIL:
GK	1	Dida
DF	2	Cafu (C)
DF	3	Lúcio
DF	4	Juan
DF	6	Roberto Carlos
MD	5	Emerson  42'
MD	8	Kaká
MD	11	Zé Roberto
FW	7	Adriano
FW	9	Ronaldo	(- 70')
FW	10	Ronaldinho
Substitutions:
FW	23	Robinho	(+ 70')
Coach:
Carlos Alberto Parreira

• Referee: Benito Archundia (Mexico)
• Assistant referees:
  • José Ramírez (Mexico)
  • Héctor Vergara (Canada)
• Fourth official: Mohamed Guezzaz (Morocco)
• Fifth official: Brahim Djezzar (Algeria)
• Man of the match: Kaká

Second Round

Brazil vs. Australia

Sunday, June 18, 2006
18:00 - FIFA World Cup Stadium Munich, Munich - Attendance: 66,000

Brazil	2 – 0 (0 – 0)	Australia
Adriano 49'
Fred 90'

Start line-up of the match

BRAZIL:
GK	1	Dida
DF	2	Cafu (C)  29'
DF	3	Lúcio
DF	4	Juan
DF	6	Roberto Carlos
MD	5	Emerson	(-72')
MD	8	Kaká
MD	11	Zé Roberto
FW	7	Adriano	(-88')
FW	9	Ronaldo	(-72')  31'
FW	10	Ronaldinho
Substitutions:
MD	12	Gilberto Silva	(+ 72')
FW	13	Robinho	(+ 72')  83'
FW	14	Fred	(+ 88')
Coach:
Carlos Alberto Parreira

• Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)
• Assistant referees:
  • Christian Schräer (Germany)
  • Jan-Hendrik Salver (Germany)
• Fourth official: Marco Rodríguez (Mexico)
• Fifth official: Leonel Leal (Costa Rica)
• Man of the match: Zé Roberto

Third Round

Brazil vs Japan

Thursday, June 22, 2006
21:00 - FIFA World Cup Stadium Dortmund, Dortmund - Attendance: 65,000

Japan	1 – 4 (1–1)	Brazil
Tamada 34'		Ronaldo 46'+, 81'
		Juninho 53'
		Gilberto 59'

Start line-up of the match

BRAZIL:
GK	1	Dida (C)	(- 82')
DF	3	Lúcio
DF	4	Juan
DF	16	Gilberto  44'
DF	13	Cicinho
MD	8	Kaká	(- 71')
MD	17	Gilberto Silva
MD	19	Juninho
FW	23	Robinho
FW	9	Ronaldo (C +82')
FW	10	Ronaldinho	(- 71')
Substitutions:
MD	11	Zé Roberto		(+ 71')
MD	20	Ricardinho		(+ 71')
GK	12	Rogério Ceni		(+ 82')
Coach:
Carlos Alberto Parreira

• Referee: Éric Poulat (France)
• Assistant referees:
  • Lionel Dagorne (France)
  • Vincent Texier (France)
• Fourth official: Jerome Damon (South Africa)
• Fifth official: Enock Molefe (South Africa)
• Man of the match: Ronaldo

Knockout stage

See also: 2006 FIFA World Cup knockout stage

Round of 16 – Brazil vs Ghana

Tuesday, June 27, 2006
17:00 - FIFA WM-Stadion Dortmund, Dortmund - Attendance: 65,000

Brazil	3 – 0 (2 – 0)	Ghana
Ronaldo 5'
Adriano 46+'
Zé Roberto 84'

Start line-up of the match

BRAZIL:
GK	1	Dida
DF	2	Cafu (C)
DF	3	Lúcio
DF	4	Juan  44'
DF	6	Roberto Carlos
MD	5	Emerson	(- 46')
MD	8	Kaká	(- 83')
MD	11	Zé Roberto
FW	7	Adriano  13'	(- 61')
FW	9	Ronaldo
FW	10	Ronaldinho
Substitutions:
MD	17	Gilberto Silva	(+ 46')
MD	19	Juninho	(+ 61')
MD	20	Ricardinho	(+ 83')
Coach:
Carlos Alberto Parreira

• Referee: Ľuboš Micheľ (Slovakia)
• Assistant referees
  • Roman Slysko (Slovakia)
  • Martin Balko (Slovakia)
• Fourth official: Mark Shield (Australia)
• Fifth official: Nathan Gibson (Australia)
• Man of the match: Zé Roberto

Quarterfinal – Brazil vs France

Saturday, July 1, 2006
21:00 - FIFA WM-Stadion Frankfurt, Frankfurt - Attendance: 52,000

Brazil	0 – 1 (0 – 0)	France
		Henry 57'

Start line-up of the match

BRAZIL:
GK	1	Dida
DF	2	Cafu (C)  25'	(-76')
DF	3	Lúcio  47'
DF	4	Juan  45'
DF	6	Roberto Carlos
MD	8	Kaká	(-79')
MD	10	Ronaldinho
MD	11	Zé Roberto
MD	17	Gilberto Silva
MD	19	Juninho	(-63')
FW	9	Ronaldo (C+76')  47+'
Substitutions:
FW	7	Adriano	(+ 63')
DF	13	Cicinho	(+ 76')
FW	23	Robinho	(+ 79')
Coach:
Carlos Alberto Parreira

• Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)
• Assistant referees
  • Victoriano Giráldez Carrasco (Spain)
  • Pedro Medina Hernández (Spain)
• Fourth official: Mark Shield (Australia)
• Fifth official: Ben Wilson (Australia)
• Man of the match: Zinedine Zidane

The Brazilian participation in the World Cup was not restricted to the national football team. Many individuals were involved with other national teams, some as players, some as members of their teams' technical staff. Those playing for other national teams had acquired the respective country's citizenship, and according to FIFA's ruling, can never play for the Brazilian team in the future. Those were:

• In Saudi Arabia: Coach Marcos Paquetá and the entire technical staff, hired by Paquetá. Immediately before the last match in the first stage of the World Cup, when disqualification was imminent for Saudi Arabia, Saudi prince Nawaf bin Faisal, who is president of the Saudi Football Confederation, guaranteed that, regardless of the outcome, Paquetá was to remain as Saudi Arabia's head coach.[6]
• In Tunisia: Maranhão-born Francileudo dos Santos was a striker for the Tunisian team. He was regarded as the team's "star".
• In Portugal: Head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari and his assistant coach, Flávio Murtosa; as well as midfielder Deco.
• In Japan: former player and Brazilian football legend Zico was Japan's head coach. Following the team's elimination, Zico left the Japanese team.[7] In addition, Japan also had the Maringá-born fullback Alex Santos.
• In Spain: São Paulo-born midfielder Marcos Senna played for the Spanish team.
• In Costa Rica: Alexandre Guimarães was the country's head coach for the World Cup, as he had been in Costa Rica's previous participation, in 2002. He also played for Costa Rica in 1990. After losing all three matches, Guimarães left the national team, allegedly in the wake of death threats received via anonymous phone calls.[8]