Interesting from
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17527544%255E601,00.htmlDecember 10, 2005
AUSTRALIA'S old reputation as a bash-and-crash team dies hard, with Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira set to caution his players against the Socceroos' physical approach.
World No.1 and defending champion Brazil drew Australia, Croatia and Japan in Group F for next year's first round matches and Parreira said his team's class may be negated by their opponents' physical edge.
Australia and Japan will have the advantage of playing the Asian Nations Cup ahead of the World Cup while Brazil has only friendly opportunities – something that was playing on Parreira's mind immediately after the draw.
"(Asian teams) are not naive teams anymore – they have been around in World Cups, so they know what they're doing there," Parreira said.
"They have a better preparation than anyone because they have the Asian competition, which nobody else has.
"They'll have six or seven games before the World Cup, but Brazil and the other teams will have only one game.
"This group is very tough from a physical point of view.
"There is good marking and good speed from Japan and Croatia and especially from Australia.
"Australia are a very physical team and we have to take care about this."Unfortunately for Australia, it will not be able to catch Brazil cold in the first game as the South Americans' first group game is against Croatia, which should blow out any cobwebs ahead of the clash with the Socceroos.
"All eyes will be on Brazil and there is always a lot of pressure, but hopefully you'll see us winning the first game and this will enable us to go ahead and take one of the two positions in the group," Parreira said.
"Brazil has never played Croatia before in a World Cup, Brazil has never played Japan before in a World Cup and Brazil has never played Australia in a World Cup, so it's a different situation – it's three newcomers in the World Cup for us."
Croatian coach Zlatko Kranjcar was aware of the shared heritage between Australia and his nation – his centre-back Josip Simunic was schooled at the Australian Institute of Sport and played for Melbourne Knights, while Socceroo captain Mark Viduka and five fellow Socceroos have Croatian heritage.
"If they choose which national team to play for, then they play for that national team," Kranjcar said.
"When we play them, we will show them respect, but we expect them to show us respect as well."
