THE OFFICIAL guardians of the beautiful game are enclosed in a salubrious country club on the edge of Johannesburg. A vast green canopy has been erected around the residential quarters of the Brazilian team in order to frustrate the camera shutters pointed in their direction. It is hot out here and the golf club, though immaculate, is not very busy.

Who knows if Robinho cares about his golf game but one thing is certain: he will have time to work on it over the next World Cup. The place is in lock down, with access restricted.

The Brazilians are set to be here from the long haul, entering the teeming energy downtown on match days and then escaping to the seclusion of their quarters here in Fairwell. With its marble foyer and whispering staff, it is all very serene but you can’t help but think that fighting boredom is going to become a chief pre-occupation for the Brazilians as this tournament wears on. And, of course, answering to their press.

A Brazilian press conference is like no other. The room dedicated for the daily briefing is huge and is packed long before the stars make their entry. Veterans of previous World Cup campaigns are crestfallen at the turn that these meetings have taken.

It is in the Brazilian nature to talk and to talk most of all about football. Under the no nonsense stewardship of Dunga, players have been rationed out sparingly and their voiced thoughts have rarely strayed from the script.

Brazil’s obligatory 90 minutes of show time against Tanzania, when Kaka was among the scorers in the 5-1 hammering, hinted a team hitting form at the right time. But as Heurlho Gomes, the goalkeeper pointed out, keeping concentration is key for their chances. The underlying fear about this Brazilian side is that they rely more on physique and organisation than the easy inspiration of previous generations. For Gomes, hard work was the message.

“I think we must keep working the same way. A friendly is different from a World Cup match. Our attention will be bigger. We made mistakes and we can’t repeat them in the World Cup. But we have a week to work and fix the little things that are wrong.”

The Tottenham goalkeeper stood in for Julio Cesar for the Tanzania game but left his audience in no doubt as to where he stood in the pecking order.

“I think Julio Cesar is the best goalkeeper in the world for everything he has done and won.”

Brazil will open their World Cup campaign against North Korea. It was left to veteran Gilberto Silva, the other player made available to the Brazilian media yesterday, to outline the priorities of the team in the opening week of the tournaments.

Dazzling the world with the Brazilian way is not foremost in their minds. “The most important thing in the first match is to win. Maybe we don’t play our best football, but if we win the first match the motivation and the trust will be bigger. We didn’t come here to keep kidding: we want the World Cup. The work is being well conducted and we hope the end will be happy.”

But with Brazil, the means have always been as important as the end. It might well be that this Brazilian team responds to the burden of being favourites by going on and winning in South Africa. Whether they will do so by means of the nonchalant magic of yesteryear is another matter.