Pitch aside, Brazil coach Dunga has much to ponder about
Watching Neymar squirt water at Robinho, and the latter jumping up and down in celebration alongside Kaka after winning a training match at the National Stadium yesterday, it may have appeared that Brazil are on a light-hearted sojourn in hot, hazy Singapore.
Indeed, the winning team hopped in unison towards one end of the hybrid pitch, eventually settling down to pose for pictures.
But tonight's match against Japan is not about fun and games, and newly installed coach Dunga has a lot on his mind.
From a pitch that he has deemed hardly ideal, to player fatigue, Dunga has much to consider, especially when he's in charge of a national team that are desperately looking to drag themselves out from under the dark cloud that formed at Belo Horizonte.
Stoic as he faced a media horde all alone yesterday in the bowels of the stadium, the 50-year-old clearly has not forgotten that harrowing 7-1 defeat by Germany in July's World Cup semi-final on home soil.
He hardly blinked as flash bulbs constantly exploded in his face at the National Stadium's press conference room, and was equally unflinching when asked what Brazil's "samba football" meant to him.
"The Brazil team will always try to produce a good spectacle, for that you need good players - which we have - but to do that, you also need good conditions," said Brazil's 1994 World Cup-winning skipper.
"The field... raises the possibility of having injured players because there is a lot of sand and I hope the sand doesn't create holes in the pitch during the match but it's a risk we are going to have to take.
"Most of it is sand, not grass, and it's a mixture of synthetic grass with natural grass but there is more synthetic than natural. It is going to be hard to pass the ball under such conditions."
Brazil are fresh off a battle with age-old enemies Argentina, winning 2-0 last Saturday in smog-blighted Beijing.
While Dunga needs to decide which of his lieutenants he will deploy against the Blue Samurai tonight, fatigue management is key.
"I want to use all six substitutions because the players had a very long journey to China and the pollution was very bad, so they are very tired," he said.
"I will talk to the players to find out how tired they are and if they are ready."
But there will be no underestimation of Japan by Dunga, or his players.
DISCIPLINED
"We know that this is a different team from the one we played at last year's Confederations Cup, and Japanese football is very disciplined, and this team have some technical players," said Chelsea midfielder Oscar, of Brazil's 3-0 win over Japan in Brasilia last year.
Neymar pointed to AC Milan ace Keisuke Honda as Japan's dangerman, calling him "a very good technical player".
Even without injury absentee Shinji Kagawa, Oscar called for a professional attitude from his team when they take on the Japanese today.
He said: "Playing against Japan will be different to playing against Argentina, but there is no difference in the seriousness with which we approach this game - we must be careful of Japan."
And Dunga will look towards a settled first 11 to get the job done.
"I don't want to change too much as we have five new players in the new line-up (post-World Cup)," he said.
"There is no point changing all the time and replacing players, because we need them to create trust and confidence, so they can (learn to) play as a team."
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