TRADITIONALLY, Brazil were the team that made f-words not only acceptable but unavoidable. Words like finesse, flair, flash, flamboyant. And going into yesterday’s World Cup quarter final against Holland, they seemed to have been superceded by another, more all-embracing term: formidable.

BRAZIL coach Dunga urged journalists to stop “hitting and attacking” him as he prepares for his first World Cup finals match in the dugout against North Korea at Ellis Park tonight.