Brazil, Argentina move on with eye on Cup qualifying

Kaká (left) and Ronaldinho return to action for Brazil on Wednesday for the first time since opting to skip this summer's Copa América. Lars Baron/Bongarts/Getty Images

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It was only just over a month ago that Argentina and Brazil squared off in Venezuela in the final of the Copa América. Brazil won 3-0, but soccer never stops.

There is precious little time for the Seleção to celebrate or for Argentina to lament its defeat. The next set of World Cup qualifiers is looming, and both sides are in action this week -- and, as usual these days for international friendlies, both are bringing their top talent across the Atlantic.

With almost their entire squads playing their club soccer in Europe, a gentlemen's agreement stipulates that Argentina and Brazil will play their friendly matches on the continent, in exchange for cooperation from the European clubs when South America's marathon World Cup qualification campaign gets underway.

The goal, of course, is to cut down on travel for the players. That's why Brazil is in Montpellier, France, on Wednesday to take on Algeria, while Argentina travels to Oslo to face Norway.

The matches are fairly gentle propositions -- in two months' time very few people back home will remember the results. But they will pay plenty of attention in October if either team has a bad start in World Cup qualifying. So for the coaches -- Brazil's Dunga and Argentina's Alfio Basile -- this week's games have a role to play in terms of team preparation -- and for digesting lessons picked up in the Copa América.

Dunga's lineup to face the Algerians is basically the same group of players with whom he has been working ever since taking charge a year ago -- 15 of this week's party (plus left back Gilberto, who was forced to drop out) were on duty at the Copa.

Kaká and Ronaldinho, of course, were not in action in Venezuela -- much to Dunga's chagrin, they chose to rest. They've been brought straight back, however, but find their positions weakened by what happened in the tournament.

Ronaldinho had an unconvincing club season at Barcelona, while Kaká's strong displays for AC Milan made him the attacking brains of the team. Will that still be the case? All last year, Dunga wrestled with the problem of accommodating both of them in the same side. He tried out a 4-2-3-1, with the two plus Robinho operating in a line behind a lone striker.

But that made it hard to get the ball quickly into wide spaces, from where Brazil is so dangerous, as it proved in the Copa América final. It would also leave no place for Júlio Baptista, who seized his chance in the stars' absence to be the most decisive player in the Copa, and surely deserves to start against the Algerians.

Elsewhere, Dunga has brought back players who missed the Copa due to injury. That includes goalkeeper Júlio César and striker Rafael Sóbis, and would have also included central defender Lúcio, had he not gone down with an injury yet again.

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