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| World awaits historic clash |
 The World Cup final between Germany and Brazil on Sunday in Yokohama brings together two teams with very different football philosophies.
In the white corner are the artisans of Germany - hard-working, willing to run all day, but a side that has yet to set the pulse racing during this World Cup.
In the yellow corner are the artists of Brazil, the original exponents of the beautiful game, a team that rarely scores ugly goals.
Remarkably this is the first time the two teams have met in the World Cup, even though all post-war finals except one have featured one of the two countries.
Despite that impressive track record, neither side were fancied to win the World Cup at the start of the tournament.
Back in May bookmakers priced Brazil at odds of between 6-1 and 13-2 to win the World Cup.
Germany were considered even less of a chance at odds ranging between 12-1 to 16-1.
Those odds reflected Germany's wretched qualifying campaign during which they lost 5-1 at home to England.
Coach Rudi Voeller's plans were further hit when playmakers Mehmet Scholl and Sebastian Deisler and defender Jens Nowotny were ruled out through injury before Germany arrived in the Far East.
"A few weeks ago when we played against high-calibre teams Cameroon and Ireland in the group stages, nobody expected us to reach the last 16," admitted Voeller.
"But we have played really, really well and deserve to be in the final."
Likewise the Brazilian side of Luiz Felipe Scolari had been written off before the World Cup finals kicked off.
Since replacing Emerson Leao as coach in June 2001, Scolari has withstood a barrage of criticism, come through a poor qualifying campaign and resisted a national campaign to recall Romario.
If both teams have had problematic passages to the final, there is no doubt of the countries' World Cup pedigree.
Germany arrive at the final with the greatest record of any European country.
Brazil boast not only the best record among the South Americans, but also the world.
Triumphant in 1958, 1962, 1970 and 1994, victory in Sunday's game will mean Germany and Italy, who have each won the competition three times, have some catching up to do.
Ronaldo nears redemption
Brazil's beautiful moments en route to this final have inevitably involved their strikers Ronaldo and Rivaldo, who together have scored 11 goals.
If those two are to add to their goal tallies of six and five goals then they are likely to need to find the net with strikes of exceptional calibre.
For Germany's best player is captain and goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, who has conceded just one goal in six games.
That was Robbie Keane's late equaliser for Ireland in their 1-1 draw with Germany in the first round.
Ronaldo's goalscoring prowess is not the only reason the Inter Milan striker will be the centre of attention on Sunday.
During the 1998 final against France he was a shadow of his usual self after he played just a few hours after suffering a fit.
Scolari is expected to start with the same team that beat England 2-1 in the quarter-finals.
That would see Ronaldinho reinstated to the starting line-up after he was suspended from the semi-final win over Turkey after his red card against England.
Voeller's side is likely to adopt a counter-attacking approach.
"We must switch to the attacking mode but we must do it carefully because Brazil have players capable of using any opportunity to counter-attack," he said.
"In terms of individual players they have more class than we have but that's not something we should be ashamed of," Voeller said. "
Top striker Miroslav Klose, who has scored five goals in the tournament, trained fully on Thursday despite a sore hip and should start up front alongside Oliver Neuville.
Kahn also had to receive treatment on a painful neck during a training session on Thursday but Voeller said there was nothing to worry about.
Jens Jeremies is expected to replace the suspended Michael Ballack. |
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| Facts and Figures for World Cup Final Germany v Brazil |
YOKOHAMA, Japan- Facts and figures ahead of
Sunday's World Cup final between Germany and Brazil:
Match venue: Yokohama, Japan
Referee: Pierluigi Collina (Italy)
Linesmen: Leif Lindberg (Sweden), Philip Sharp (England)
Kick-off: 1100 GMT
Coaches:Germany - Rudi Voeller,Brazil - Luiz Felipe Scolari
World rankings:Germany - 11,Brazil - 2
Squad average age:Germany - 27.65 Brazil - 26.22
Most capped current player:Germany - Christian Ziege and Oliver Bierhoff 70,Brazil - Cafu 110
Population:Germany - 83 million,Brazil - 173 million
Previous meetings:
1963 - Brazil 2 West Germany 1 - Friendly - Germany
1965 - Brazil 2 West Germany 0 - Friendly - Brazil
1968 - West Germany 2 Brazil 1 - Friendly - Germany
1968 - Brazil 2 West Germany 2 - Friendly - Brazil
1973 - Brazil 1 West Germany 0 - Friendly - Germany
1977 - Brazil 1 West Germany 1 - Friendly - Brazil
1978 - Brazil 1 West Germany 0 - Friendly - Germany
1981 - Brazil 2 West Germany 1 - Friendly - Germany
1982 - Brazil 1 West Germany 0 - Friendly - Brazil
1986 - West Germany 2 Brazil 0 - Friendly - Germany
1987 - Brazil 1 West Germany 1 - Friendly - Brazil
1992 - Brazil 3 Germany 1 - Friendly - Brazil
1993 - Brazil 3 Germany 3 - Friendly - U.S.
1993 - Germany 2 Brazil 1 - Friendly - Germany
1998 - Brazil 2 Germany 1 - Friendly - Germany
1999 - Brazil 4 Germany 0 - Friendly - Mexico
Previous World Cup appearances:
Germany - 1934, 1938, 1950, 1954 (champions), 1958, 1962, 1966,
1970, 1974 (champions), 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990 (champions), 1994,
1998
Brazil - 1930, 1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1958 (champions), 1962
(champions), 1966, 1970 (champions), 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990,
1994 (champions), 1998
This will be the first meeting between Germany and Brazil at
the World Cup finals.
Cafu will become the first player in history to appear in three
World Cup finals.
Between them, Germany and Brazil have won seven World Cups with
Brazil claiming four and Germany having won three. |
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| Pierluigi Collina says "Mistakes can happen." |
Pierluigi Collina has admitted that refereeing mistakes in the World Cup final cannot be ruled out.
Concerns over the standard of refereeing at the finals prompted Fifa president Sepp Blatter to insist that only the best referees would be chosen for key matches.
The Italian, widely regarded as the best referee in the world, was subsequently given the honour of officiating the match between Germany and Brazil in Yokohama.
Collina has promised to do his homework ahead of the game in an effort to avoid any contentious decisions.
However, he knows that he and his assistants - England's Phillip Sharp and Leif Lindberg of Sweden - can only do their best.
"Our task between now and Sunday will be to be as well-prepared as we can," said Collina.
"It is important to get as much information as possible to know how the teams and individual players perform."
The appointment of the 42-year-old Collina, recognisable by his shining head and bulging eyes, is no surprise.
Earlier in the tournament he took charge of the high-profile and potentially volatile clash between England and Argentina with assurance.
"Even though I have refereed a lot of games in my career, the World Cup final is different," added Collina.
"I'm interested in the tactics of both teams. I don't necessarily mean simulation or bad behaviour, but about players' movements on the field."
Despite the preparation, Collina acknowledges that penalties and other key incidents in and around the penalty box will always cause dispute.
"The penalty box is the most important part of the field," he added.
"A mistake made in the middle of the pitch is accepted by everyone but inside the box errors are shown hundreds and hundreds of times.
"Something has changed in the last 20 years. Back then there were far fewer cameras than there are now which has made the job much more difficult.
"Referees and players have got to trust each other. We are not enemies, we just do our jobs in different ways."
Scotland's Hugh Dallas completes the list of four officials on duty, making it an all-European cast.
Saturday's third-place play-off between South Korea and Turkey in Daegu will be officiated by four non-European referees.
Kuwait's Saad Mane will take charge with Saudi Arabia's Ali Al Traifi and Canadian Hector Vergara as linesmen and Mexico's Felipe Ramos Rizo as the fourth official. |
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