Brazil have been far from the consummate defending champions at the Germany World Cup but should they rediscover their missing spark against France here on Saturday their chase for a record sixth world crown will be on in earnest.
Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira is demanding more consistency from his exotically-talented team as Brazil face up to Zinedine Zidane's recharged Les Bleus for a place in the last four against England or Portugal.
Also underscoring Brazil's quest for the 'Hexa' or sixth world title is that no South American team has won the World Cup in Europe, stretching back to young Pele's Brazil in Sweden in 1958.
Parreira, who once vowed never to coach Brazil again after the 1994 title victory over Italy after the personal abuse he received for the way the team played, wants a more patient build-up rather than throwing away possession.
Brazil face a recharged France coming off their 3-1 spanking of Spain in the round of 16 in Hanover and memories of their 1998 final humbling in Paris when Zidane scored twice in a 3-0 World Cup boilover. Gilberto Silva, likely to play in the midfield in place of Emerson who has a knee problem, rates France highly.
France played their best football for years to beat Spain, but defender Lilian Thuram believes they will have to improve further if they are to have any chance of derailing Brazil's title defence.
The Juventus defender, who passed Marcel Desailly's record as France's most capped player last week against Togo, said: "It was good to come up against a talented team in Spain in the second round, we had to raise our game. "Now we have to raise it again for Brazil, not only in terms of quality of play but also our level of concentration."
Thuram, who will be winning his 119th cap having passed Desailly's benchmark of 116 appearances, knows what lies ahead of his team in Frankfurt. Thuram, along with Zidane, are playing in their last major tournament for France after being coaxed out of retirement during last year's qualifiers to help get the team to Germany.
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