ANR correspondent Alex Abreu Gontijo writes from Rio
BRAZIL will play at the Emirates Stadium tonight against Big Phil Scolari’s Portugal.
Big Phil turned down the chance to coach Brazil again after they lost their world title last summer. For us, Big Phil was more than a national coach, more than a World Cup winner. He won the hearts and minds of our nation and when Carlos Alberto Parreira’s team lost in Germany he was the first choice to replace Parreira.
But Big Phil’s family said: not again !
Dunga was the obvious next choice. He is a similar strong personality who demands performances from the big stars.
Like Big Phil, he does not think twice about making public his feelings about any game that Brazil play.
If Dunga is not happy, everybody will know about it. He is also ruthless, like Big Phil, and loves to win at any price. He has brought Adriano back into the squad, which is controversial here because Adriano has had problems which remind us of a rock star, not a professional soccer player.
We are without Ronaldinho and should line up in this 4-4-2: Julio Cesar; Daniel Alves, Lucio, Juan, Gilberto; Gilberto Silva, Dudu Cearense, Elano, Kaka; Fred, Rafael Sobis.
One of our subs will be Adriano.
Big Phil will probably go for a 4-5-1 : Ricardo; Marco Caneira, Jorge Andrade, Ricardo Carvalho, Miguel; Deco, Armando Petit, Raul Meireles, Cristiano Ronaldo, Simao ; Helder Postiga.