MUNICH, June 17: Champions Brazil are determined not to get dragged into a physical battle with Australia in Sunday's World Cup Group F match.

Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, while showing respect for his opposite number Guus Hiddink, is wary of what he sees as Australia's bruising style and has told his players not to get into a fight.

Match starts at 9.00pm (PST)

The two teams have three points after beating Croatia and Japan respectively in their opening games.

Australia's 3-1 victory over Japan was their first at a World Cup finals.

The Socceroos may rest four players who received yellow cards, Tim Cahill, John Aloisi, Craig Moore and Vince Grella, to make sure they are available for the final group match against Croatia.

Brazil set a record of eight successive wins at the World Cup finals by beating Croatia 1-0 on Tuesday.

“Australia are a very physical team but we are not going to fight with them,” Parreira told reporters.

“Our business is to play football, put the ball on the ground and impose our style and technique.

“It’s a decisive match because whoever wins will almost certainly qualify."

Parreira also knows he is up against one of the world's canniest coaches in Hiddink, who led his native Netherlands to the semi-finals in 1998 and South Korea to the same stage four years later.

“He's a wonderful coach, one of the best in the world, and I have great respect for him,” said Parreira.

The usually self-confident Australians have adopted a more cautious tone as they prepare to take on the world champions.

“There's no pressure on us because everyone expects Brazil to win but there's also the fear that they probably haven't warmed up yet,” said defender Lucas Neill.

“They are a team that can easily start to cook and we just have to make sure we don't let them boil against us.”

Surprisingly, Australia won their last meeting 1-0 in the third-place playoff at the Confederations Cup in Japan in 2001.

Brazil coach Emerson Leao was fired as a result, learning of his fate as he was about to board his flight home.

The match will be a test for Ronaldo, top scorer at the 2002 World Cup with eight goals.

The Brazil striker had a dismal game against Croatia, adding to the speculation over his weight and fitness. On Wednesday, he was taken to a clinic complaining of dizziness but the team management say no abnormality was found.

Parreira has confirmed Ronaldo will start against Australia and says he is prepared to gamble on the Real Madrid striker.

But critics are wondering how long the coach's patience will last.

Teams:

BRAZIL (4-4-2): 1-Dida; 2-Cafu, 3-Lucio, 4-Juan, 6-Roberto Carlos; 5-Emerson, 11-Ze Roberto, 8-Kaka, 10-Ronaldinho; 9-Ronaldo, 7-Adriano

AUSTRALIA (4-5-1): 1-Mark Schwarzer; 7-Brett Emerton, 2-Lucas Neill, 6-Tony Popovic, 14-Scott Chipperfield; 8-Josip Skoko, 5-Jason Culina, 20-Luke Wilkshire, 23-Marco Bresciano, 10-Harry Kewell; 9-Mark Viduka.—Reuters

Opinion

Editorial

Large projects again?
03 Jun, 2024

Large projects again?

THE PML-N is back with its signature infrastructure development model, which has been responsible for much of our...
Local power
03 Jun, 2024

Local power

A SIGNIFICANT policy paper was recently debated at an HRCP gathering, calling for the constitutional protection of...
Child-friendly courts
03 Jun, 2024

Child-friendly courts

IN a country where the child rights debate has been a belated one, it is heartening to note that a recent Supreme...
Dutch courage
Updated 02 Jun, 2024

Dutch courage

ECP has been supported wholeheartedly in implementing twisted interpretations of democratic process by some willing collaborators in the legislature.
New World cricket
02 Jun, 2024

New World cricket

HAVING finished as semi-finalists and runners-up in the last two editions of the T20 World Cup in familiar ...
Dead on arrival?
02 Jun, 2024

Dead on arrival?

Whatever the motivations for Gaza peace plan, it is difficult to see the scheme succeeding.