Buenos Aires/Rio de Janeiro - Brazil are in far from their best form, and a divorce is evident between fans in the football- crazy South American country and the low-performance side led by coach Carlos Dunga.

However, the same team won the 2007 Copa America to earn the chance to defend their title at the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa.

Brazil have long failed to display the kind of fantasy game that made their football famous and turned "jogo bonito" into a global trademark.

Former superstars Ronaldo and Ronaldinho are far from their best and are indeed out of the national team. And Kaka and Robinho, for all their undoubted potential and their notable club performances, have so far failed to fulfil expectations as their designated successors in the national team.

The fans resent the attitude of players who are active in European clubs and are increasingly hard to convince to play in Brazil, even for national team friendlies.

"Shameless team!" thousands of people shouted from the stands of the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro in October, in Brazil's latest home game in the South American qualifiers towards the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. What is more, the scene had been seen before.

"Maracana will not miss them," one newspaper said of the performance, a goalless draw against Colombia.

Fans have repeatedly demanded Dunga's exit in the face of a mediocre, uncreative team which, more importantly, is failing to achieve results: Brazil won only half of the 10 games the senior team played in 2008, and they could not get beyond the bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

However, former Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari - who took the South American giant to its most recent World Cup title in 2002 - sees nothing dramatic in the current setting.

"There is no emergency situation. Brazil is in a normal qualifiers situation, it is second (in the table). Dunga is working on player observation, He is right about that," Scolari noted.

As things stand, however, Dunga's men need to show signs of recovery sooner rather than later, and the Confederations Cup will provide them with a good chance to reconcile with Brazilian fans ahead of the South Africa 2010.

Brazil have won a record five editions of the World Cup, and in 2007 a lacklustre "Selecao" won the Copa America - Argentina played better, but Brazil thrashed them in the final - to get a shot at defending their title at the upcoming Confederations Cup, which they have won twice before.

One thing is clear: even a poor-performing Brazilian side can hardly be ruled out in the fight for any trophy when it comes to football. (dpa)