Australians plan to tackle Brazilians head on

OEHRINGEN, Germany, June 13: Australia have ruled out the prospect of fielding a weakened team in their next World Cup match against Brazil to protect their players from being suspended for their final Group F game with Croatia.

Four players -- goalscorers Tim Cahill and John Aloisi and defenders Vince Grella and Craig Moore -- collected yellow cards in yesterday's opening 3-1 win over Japan in Kaiserslautern.

Those players would automatically miss the Croatian match if they received another yellow card against world champions Brazil in Munich on Sunday.

With the match against Croatia looming as the likely decider to see who goes through to the second round, the Australians could be tempted to bench those four and start with a weakened team.

Assistant coach Graham Arnold said the matter had not been discussed but the Australian players all wanted to play against Brazil.

''If you ask the players who are on the yellows then they want to play,'' he told reporters today.

''It's a fantastic experience to be in the position to play them.''

Arnold said the Australians were concerned about the yellow cards but had little choice other than to start their best players against Brazil because a heavy defeat could upset their goal difference and leave them needing to beat Croatia to stay in the tournament.

''We haven't spoken about it yet but having four yellow cards is a concern,'' Arnold said.

''We don't have the luxury of being able to rest players.

''We just have to be mentally and tactically prepared to play against them and we've got nothing to lose.'' Arnold said the Australians would be satisfied with a draw against Brazil but know a win would be enough to get them through to the next stage.

''At this stage it's one game at a time but if we can get something against Brazil the second round looks good,'' he said.

Cahill, who was named man of the match after coming off the bench and scoring two goals, said the victory had given the Australians the confidence they needed to tackle the champions.

''This is a great start to our campaign and we're ready for the next step on our World Cup mission,'' he said.

REUTERS

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