View of Weggis, Switzerland
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At the 2006 World Cup, Brazil will be participating for the 18th time in the event. The country will have remained as the only national team to have participated in every installment of the 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 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 priviledge 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 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, will play Costa Rica in the opening match). Despite being the returning champion, the Brazilian team will debut, 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 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 Qualyfing 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, Maracaibo |
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:
| Final Standings | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | |
| Brazil | 34 | 18 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 35 | 17 | 18 | |
| Argentina | 34 | 18 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 29 | 17 | 12 | |
| Ecuador | 28 | 18 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 23 | 19 | 4 | |
| Paraguay | 28 | 18 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 23 | 23 | 0 | |
| Uruguay | 25 | 18 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 23 | 28 | -5 | |
| Colombia | 24 | 18 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 24 | 16 | 8 | |
| Chile | 22 | 18 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 18 | 22 | -4 | |
| Venezuela | 18 | 18 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 20 | 28 | -8 | |
| Peru | 18 | 18 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 20 | 28 | -8 | |
| Bolivia | 14 | 18 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 20 | 37 | -17 | |
View of Weggis, Switzerland
A month before the start of the competition, the Brazilian national team will take up quarters in the small city of Weggis, in Switzerland, at the sumptuous Weggis Park Hotel. The team will try to get accustomed to the Germany's climate in a peaceful place, as well as try to focus on the competition. The preparation is scheduled to start on May 22 and end on June 4.
Traditionally, the host nation, in this case, Germany, is the Group A's first seed. To prevent a possible match between Brazil and Germany before the final, FIFA placed, on December 6, 2005, the previous competition champion as the Group F's first seed. The Brazilian opponents, in the first stage, are, respectively Croatia, Australia and Japan.
Football World Cup 2006, made by MultiMedia | Free content and software
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