Today sees the draw for next June’s Confederations Cup, but hosts Brazil have an eye on the real deal, the 2014 World Cup.

The eight-nation Confederations Cup tournament is a dress rehearsal – an important one which notably brings together four former world champions – but a sideshow nonetheless.

Additionally, it will now serve as a chance for Luiz Felipe Scolari, the architect of Brazil’s last World Cup success in 2002, to show he can orchestrate a renaissance for Bra-zilian football as he returned as coach on Thursday.

Five-times world champions Brazil are relishing the sporting spotlight with next June’s action an appetiser for 2014. And the drama will continue apace all the way through to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro – South America’s first Summer Games.

Despite their record, Brazil have slipped outside the top 10 in the FIFA rankings and Olympic failure paved the way for the sacking of Mano Menezes as coach.

Politicians’ plight

The Confederations Cup may still be six months away but Brazilian politicians have been striving for months to prove the country can cope with the logistics of hosting major competitions.

The World Cup and the 2016 Rio Games require a massive infrastructural overhaul and the Confederations Cup will offer only a small-scale glimpse of the host nation’s organisational capabilities.

As to the Confed Cup itself, fans are in for a treat as world champions Spain, Euro 2012 finalists Italy, the winner of January’s Africa Cup, Asian champions Japan, South American champions Uruguay, CONCACAF Gold Cup winners Mexico and Oceania champions Tahiti join the Brazilians.

On the face of it Brazil will expect to meet Spain in the final but the hosts will also be open to blooding as much new talent as they can given that, as World Cup hosts, they have no other competitive internationals up until 2014.

Today’s draw will keep apart seeded Brazil and Spain as well as Brazil and Uruguay and Spain and Italy for the group matches spread between Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, and Salvador.

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