Champions of South America

Brazil are, on paper, the team to beat. But they have struggled to live up to their favourite's tag in previous major tournaments, including Germany 2006. Following a rocky start to their South Africa 2010 qualifying campaign, they are now firmly on track to uphold their unique record of having participated at every FIFA World Cup™.

Brazil coaches must cope with incessant demands, though, and Dunga will hope to use the FIFA Confederations Cup to convince the doubters that his side can play exciting football and emerge triumphant. They managed this during a 2-0 victory over Italy in February, when the reigning world champions found Robinho in irrepressible form. The forward is just one of several highly-talented attacking players at Dunga's disposal, former FIFA World Player of the Year Kaka being another.

However, the Seleção have also emerged as a strong defensive unit, and goalkeeper Julio Cesar kept clean sheets in their last five South Africa 2010 qualifiers of 2008. With this solidity and Brazil's perennial capacity to score goals, their fans will expect nothing less than the FIFA Confederations Cup trophy they won convincingly in 1997 and 2005.

Coach: Dunga
Stars: Julio Cesar, Kaka, Robinho