Dunga tells team to concentrate on playing football

TERESOPOLIS: Brazil coach Dunga has told his team not to get involved in gamesmanship and petty arguments during the World Cup qualifiers.

Brazil, the only team to have played at all 18 World Cups and winners of a record five, kicks off its campaign to qualify for the 2010 finals in South Africa in Colombia on Sunday.

It hosts Ecuador in Rio de Janeiro three days later as it starts an 18-match campaign that will take two years and involves home and away games against every other side in South America.

"We mustn't get into arguments or start using gamesmanship, Brazil doesn't know how to do these things," Dunga told reporters. "We just have to play football."

Although Brazil qualified comfortably for the 2006 World Cup, it struggled in earlier South American qualifiers.

It lost six matches on its way to the 2002 finals and also stuttered to the 1994 tournament in the United States, losing to Bolivia at high altitude along the way.

"The difficulties are different from any other tournament and you have to be ready for it," said Dunga. "You're playing a game where the whole country has been preparing to face Brazil."

"You can get booed at the airport, other things happen, but you have to be prepared to play," he added.

"Brazilian players like a challenge. The bigger the difficulties, the better they play."

Agencies

(China Daily 10/11/2007 page23)