He has something to live up, replacing Ronaldo, the "Phenomenon" who fired Brazil to glory in 2002 and broke Gerd Mueller's all-time FIFA World Cup™ scoring haul of 14 goals in Germany last time out. But Luis Fabiano isn't letting the burden of shooting the Selecao to their sixth title weigh too heavily on his shoulders as he seeks his own place in the pantheon of all-time greats to have worn the canary yellow shirt.
The Seville striker is playing in his first FIFA World Cup but notched five goals in as many games in the FIFA Confederations Cup last year and so is already well-attuned to the South African environment, even if he comes here having had to shrug off a leg injury and the fact that he has not scored in his last five Brazilian outings.
That drought stretches back to last autumn but he is confident he will have his shooting boots with him when Brazil step out to face North Korea on Tuesday in their opening Group G match. The Brazilians will later go up against Portugal and Côte d’Ivoire, both of whom could give Dunga's side a hard time of it. But with Fabiano, who scored on his international debut against Nigeria in 2003, in their ranks they will not be short of firepower as he has netted 25 times in 37 appearances for his country -- or 19 in 26 starts under Dunga.
Dunga called up the 29-year-old who started out with Ponte Preta following a period on the fringes of the squad after Afonso Alves (then of Dutch side Heerenveen and now with Qatar's Al Rayyan) was injured in 2008 for the start of the qualifiers. He did not shine initially but then cemented his place with a double in the 2-1 home win over Uruguay in Sao Paulo.
A member of the 2004 CONMEBOL Copa America-winning squad, Fabiano would go on to score a creditable nine goals in qualifying -- buoyed by his Confederations Cup exploits, which included a brace in the final win over the United States.
No comments:
Post a Comment