A soccer fan with his face painted in Brazilian colours smiles in Siliguri. [filephoto]

While most observers consider Brazil by a long way the favorites for the Cup, they are also the team everyone is trying to beat, if only so their winning opponent can say "we are the team that stopped Brazil winning their sixth World Cup."

Brazil's 2006 team is considered one of the best of all time: as good as the 1970 team that won the third World Cup and the 1982 team which did not win a Cup but coined the phase "the beautiful game".

The players are all so international famous that sports journalists did not quibble with a single choice when the squad was announced.

Training, in the Swiss town of Weggis and in the German town of Konigstein went well with only one problem: winger Edmilson had to leave due to an injury, to be replaced by Sao Paulo's Mineiro.

Drama was created out of Ronaldo's alleged weight problem, alongside his blisters and a brief fever. For which Ronaldo complained in a recent interview, which also attacked Brazil's president for having asked public about his weight.

The squad which will start its campaign tomorrow with a match against Croatia, has a "superattack" system -- a square of players formed by Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka and Adriano.

Ronaldo, 29, is playing his fourth World Cup. He is also seeking to set personal records in the 2006 competition in Germany. He needs only three goals to become the World Cup's biggest scorer of all time, breaking Germany's Gerd Muller's 14-goal record.