Brazil coach defends preparations
Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has defended his side's decision to play just one warm-up match against New Zealand ahead of the World Cup finals. The holders have not played a game since the beginning of March when they took on Russia in a friendly. But Parreira has hit back at fears they will lack match practice ahead of their opener against Croatia on 13 June.

He said: "My objective is to improve game by game so that by the end of the tournament we are at our peak." Parreira, who guided Brazil to World Cup glory in 1994, added: "It doesn't worry me that we may not start the tournament playing at 100% of our ability. "If you start off at 100% then you've got no room for improvement."

The Brazil coach used Colombia as an example of a side which headed into the finals in 1994 with high hopes only to crash out in the first round. He said: "Colombia had a great team and everyone was talking about them because they'd beaten Argentina 5-0 in Buenos Aires during the qualifiers." But by the time the World Cup came they were eliminated. A similar thing happened to Argentina in 2002."

Parreira has so far used junior opponents to provide training opposition, and saw his team rattle up a 13-1 victory over the youth side of Brazilian club Fluminense on Sunday, with Robinho netting four times. The only international friendly they are scheduled to play before the finals in Germany is against New Zealand in Geneva on 4 June.
_{Fonte:BBC SPORT Football World Cup 2006 Teams Brazil coach defends preparations.htm}

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