Sunday's World Cup final between Brazil and Germany will be a culture clash of talent versus teamwork, according to Brazil's World Cup-winning coach Carlos Alberto Parreira.
Four-times winners Brazil and three-times winners Germany have never met before in the 72-year-old history of the tournament and a meeting of different football minds is on the cards.
"In the final you have Brazilian individuality, potential and the best attack in the competition against German team work, determination and collectiveness and the best defence in the competition," Parreira told Reuters in an interview.
German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn has let in just one goal so far in the competition as the Germans beat Paraguay, the United States and co-hosts South Korea in the knockout stage.
But the German defence now faces a much higher quality of attack against Brazil with the creative skills of Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Roberto Carlos.
"Some teams have one or two players that opponents have to stop. With the Brazilians, you have to stop three or four players. You have the possibilities that no other team has in this competition," said Parreira who coached Brazil to the 1994 title.
CRASHED OUT
Both finalists struggled in the qualifying stage and were put behind Argentina and defending champions France as favourites to win before the tournament started. Argentina and France both crashed out in the first round.
Parreira said the build-up had been different to 1994 when Brazil had their team settled one year before the tournament. Brazil struggled through the South American qualifiers this time, using four coaches and 60 players in their 18 games.
"This team struggled, not with the quality but with the formation," he said. "They have had four coaches in four years.
"For us it is very important that we stay three weeks together because of the atmosphere, the ambiance. This is important. Once we qualified we knew the potential of the players."
For the first time Brazil will not be guaranteed a place at the 2006 finals if they win the Yokohama final because the automatic spot for the defending champions has been scrapped.
Germany qualify automatically as hosts in 2006. Parreira was confident that Brazil would get through qualification but the rule may mean that the defending champions will not always appear at the following finals in the future.
"It is a kind of reward because for so many years the winners qualified. It could make a problem for the winners. You win, you have to renew the team and you may not be in the next one," he said.
