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Road to 2006 starts here

Brazil begin their quest for a sixth World Cup crown this weekend as the South American nations set out on a marathon two-year qualifying campaign for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany.

Brazil, as reigning champions, have not been given direct entry to the finals following a rule change by world football's governing body FIFA.

That puts extra pressure on the nine other nations who must join the Brazilians in the fight for one of the four qualification spots while the fifth-placed side enter a playoff.

For the third year running, the 10 countries are in one big group and play each other home and away.

For Brazil, qualifying is often the hardest part of their World Cup campaign.

Their record-breaking fifth success in Japan 14 months ago has obliterated the memory of a halting qualifying campaign which saw them hit form late to scrape in as the third of the four qualifiers in 2001.

Argentina meanwhile sailed into the finals as group winners but crashed out in the first round once they reached Asia.

Brazil retain the core of the team that beat Germany 2-0 in last year's final in Yokohama as they head for the Colombian city of Barraquilla tomorrow.

Ronaldo, who collected both goals in the final and six others to finish leading scorer for the tournament, has warned his teammates that Colombia could be a tricky prospect after their tenacious performance in this year's Confederations Cup tournament in France.

"Brazil will encounter difficulties, because Colombia have a young team with a lot of good players and they will be playing in front of their own fans," said the Real Madrid star.

Argentina welcome Chile to Buenos Aires today with Marcelo Bielsa, the brother of Argentine Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa, retained as coach despite the World Cup humiliation.

Bielsa's major task is blending the talented new blood from the World Youth Cup wins of 1997 and 2001 with the established stars.

"There was an exaggerated sense of triumphalism after the qualifiers last time, but now these matches are treated with extreme caution," Bielsa said.

Argentina's greatest reason for optimism is the rapid development of Javier Saviola, the Barcelona starlet who was bizarrely left out of last year's squad.

Juan Sebastian Veron and Hernan Crespo, now teammates at big-spending English club Chelsea are also in form and could punish Chile who are rebuilding after finishing last in the race for Asia.

In other matches, Paraguay face Peru today as they bid for a second successive World Cup finals appearance and Uruguay host Bolivia tomorrow.
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