For me, England's become a bit like QPR.
I used to watch them, used to talk about them.
But now I don't bother and it's hard to remember who is managing them.
Dunga's Brazil looked good when they beat Argentina 3-0 but dire when they lost 2-0 to Portugal at the Emirates in February.
When Elano scored after 3 minutes, I thought : Who is this guy? I try to keep up with emerging talents. Then Elano scored again to make it 2-0 in 67 minutes and I thought : How can a player I've never heard of be this good ? Because he plays for Shakhtar Donetsk. Kaka made it 3-0 at the death.
Big Phil Scolari is a great coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira is a competent coach, Dunga might be a coach.
Dunga is a very strong character, a great captain, a World Cup winner in USA'94 with Romario and Bebeto, but we don't know if he is a coach. He might be. We'll have to wait and see.
So this game is more important for Dunga than anybody else, even Beckham.A win at Wembley looks good on any coach's CV.
England have only won 3 of the 21 games they've played against Brazil and this lot won't make it four because Steve McClaren is a plank and Sven's quartet does not work.
How absurd for assistant Venables to let it be known that he opposes the recall of David Beckham. Don't mutter, Tel. Don't leak, Tel. Just resign and say : I don't agree with that, I'm out of here.
When England play Brazil in a friendly it doesn't really matter who wins. What matters is that Brazil make money, England make money, and Wembley make money. Watch the takings, not the scoreline.
Five good minutes of Ronaldinho could rip England apart but he may not be fit enough or motivated enough.
Our strikers will be Michael Owen and Alan Smith.
Owen isn't good enough to play for Man United, Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea, but, oddly, he is still the go-to guy when the Three Lions brand steps on the field. His timing was off when he played in the England B v Albania game last Friday. We knocked the ball around quite well and won 3-0 but Owen didn't score.
Owen has concentration, ambition and bravery. He can be garbage for 87 minutes and still score. But he lacks skill. He's ridiculously one-dimensional. You can't have a good England team with him in it.
And you can't have a good England team with Lampard & Gerrard in central midfield.
It doesn't look right or feel right. Building a team isn't about picking your best players, it's about blend and balance, and we never had that under Sven because he was a clueless groupie.
Since 1970 England have given the ball away far too much. Therefore we should always play with a half-striker and a holding player.
With Hargreaves, we are OK. With a link-player, like Beardsley or Barmby or Sheringham or Rooney, we are decent. But whenever we play 4-4-2 and two strikers, we are rubbish. Have been ever since Lineker and Hateley started the '86 World Cup together.
ESTONIA? Do we need to bring back David Beckham to beat Estonia in Tallinn ?
No ! No ! No!
So why do it?
To give the media what they want, of course.
The media rules in the UK. The media is the real government, so every England coach is terrified of The Sun, just as every Prime Minister is terrified of The Sun.
In 1996, when Scotland played there in a qualifier, there was a dispute about the kick-off time after Craig Brown said the floodlights were inadequate and it was decided the game should be played in the afternoon, not the evening.
Estonia didn't turn up, so FIFA told the Scots and the referee to line up and kick off against no opponents, and then they would be awarded the match
When they kicked off the 600-strong Tartan Army sang, "One team in Tallinn, there's only one team in Tallinn !"
One shouted, "Get into them!"
About five years ago we had a city break in Helsinki and hopped over to Tallinn on the hovercraft and found that it's as big as St.Albans but more picturesque. In the bookshop, Sting was singing Fields Of Gold, which made me feel quite at home.
UPDATE, Friday morning 9.15 a.m.
I've just seen the proposed England X1 on TV and it's so scary that I hardly dare type out the names.
Remember, this is England's first game back at Wembley, which has been closed for seven years. And this game is a warm-up for Estonia next week.
The side that Steve "The Plank" McClaren will put out has a back four, a midfield four, and Ledley King in a holding role between the two lines of four – plus Michael Owen up front on his own !!!!!!!
As if England's finest have the skills to adapt to a new system and make it work against technically superior opponents.
Robinson
Phil Neville, Terry, Carragher, Nicky Shorey (Reading )
Ledley King
Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Joe Cole
Owen
THAT IS SCARY !!!!