1.
The Brazil football team are synonymous with cool.
There are few teams in the World that could take a local flip flops brand and turn it into a global success.
Well that is precisely what the Brazil national team did in the 1998 World Cup.
There is every chance the players will continue to sport flip flops around the pool when relaxing between games this time around.
2.
Few teams in World football sport such a heritage of skill and balance.
Every four years the national team turn up to the tournament with an array of dribbling talent and technique.
Often a new star is born and there is every chance one such star this year will come from the Brazil team.
3.
Talking of technique they have now added steel to their list of assets.
Dunga, their former World Cup winning captain and now coach, instills a tough line of tackling and organization.
Not only are they a great threat going forward but they also have a rock of a defense and midfield shield to make any team quake.
4.
History dictates Brazil will be one of the main contenders.
They are the only team to have qualified for all 19 FIFA World Cup Finals dating back to 1930.
They are also the most successful nation at the championships having won the competition a record 5 times (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002).
5.
Any team boasting the attacking talents of Kaka are in with a shout.
The former World footballer of the year winner is in his prime at 28.
Following an indifferent 1st season at Spanish club Real Madrid who would bet against the mercurial midfield wizard being the star of the tournament? 6.
Brazil have a forward called Robinho.
On his day the little striker can inspire awe with his array of skills and prove the decisive game changer.
As any Manchester City supporter would argue however he can also go missing for huge periods of a game.
Count on Brazils number 11 to continue to mystify with breath taking skill one game and the invisible man act the next.
7.
Brazil are the only team to have won the World Cup outside of their own continent.
That is quite some fact considering the list of past winners includes the likes of Argentina, Italy, France, Germany, Uruguay and England.
Do not bet against them this time as the World Cup is hosted for the first time on the African continent.
8.
The Brazil national team are one of the great nations' biggest exports and brands.
Beyond the local flip flops brand they helped make famous this writer struggles to name another so synonymous with the Worlds' 9th largest economy.
9.
Think about the World Cup and your mind quickly turns to the yellow and gold.
Who can forget Brazils all conquering 1970 team, arguably the competitions greatest ever team, or the 1982 classic of Zico and co? Or how about 1994 and the deadly Romario or the 2002 vintage of the great Ronaldo? Few other teams in sport dominate such World competitions in the mind as the Brazil national team.
10.
The team head into the 2010 World Cup ranked number one in the FIFA World Rankings.
Which further supports the common argument about soccer that "The English invented it, the Brazilians perfected it.
" Who could argue with that?