They are inimitable nicknamers, are loved the world over for their seemingly peerless brand of individual brilliance and have, finally, arrived en masse down under. It's taken two seasons for the fledgling league to finally wake up to the unique combination of attributes Brazilian footballers of almost any standard can deliver to a new competition. Like any nationality, Brazilians vary enormously in playing power - but they almost never fail in generating an unrivalled marketing hype and booming interest from the footballing fraternity. With the A-League's kick-off less than a fortnight away, season three will be the judge of just how good the dozen or so new South American arrivals are, particularly as the bulk have been awarded just single-year contracts despite champions Melbourne Victory falling foul of such a decision during the close season.

Brazil confounded the doubters to bag their fourth Copa America title in five, beating much-fancied Argentina 3-0 in Maracaibo, Venezuela. The two South American giants had met in the previous final in 2004 in Peru, which Brazil had won on penalties after a 2-2 draw, but it was their old rivals who had been the more impressive going into this game. Brazil had lost their opening match 2-0 to Mexico while Argentina had dazzled the tournament with some fireworks football, blitzing all opposition including Mexico 3-0 in the semi-final. Much was expected of their three musketeers of Juan Riquelme, Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi, but before the albiceleste could find their feet in the 34C Venezuelan afternoon, Julio Baptista gave Brazil a dream start with a thumping strike in the fourth minute. Baptista, who was on loan at Arsenal from Real Madrid last season, picked up a long spear from Elano, took two taps to beat veteran Roberto Ayala and then rifled past a frozen Roberto Abbondanzieri in the Argentina goal to give Brazil the lead. Riquelme hit the post with Argentina’s first attack five minutes later and a dream final looked in the making. Argentina then took the game to Brazil but always looked vulnerable to a swift counter from their more muscular opponents. Riquelme then drew a diving save from Brazil goalie Doni before disaster struck again for the albiceleste. Five minutes before the break, Daniel Alves swung over a cross from the right and the unlucky Ayala, threatened by the lurking Vagner Love, stretched and turned the ball into his own net. Two-nil down, Argentina laboured hard in their efforts to eke out a comeback, only to succumb again to a break in the 69th minute. Vagner Love carried the ball forward against the retreating Argentina defenders before releasing Alves, who found the net with an inch-perfect diagonal drive to make it 3-0. Carlos was the victim of a split-second offside call error late on as he found the goal, but otherwise his country was well-beaten by the hitherto-underrated holders. Brazil’s strength and power comfortably dominated Argentina’s skill and finesse, and every time the albiceleste strove to drag themselves back into the match, their silky techinique ran aground against a yellow wall of rugged tackles and massed defending.

Sunday's Copa America final has a familiar look to it as Argentina dismissed Mexico 3-0 in the second semi-final to set up a meeting with old foes Brazil for the championship. CONCACAF guests Mexico had threatened to trespass on the CONMEBOL showpiece event ever since they beat holders Brazil 2-0 in their opening match, and yesterday in Puerto Ordaz los tricolores began strongly, threatening the favourites with a number of thrusts through the middle in the first half. But the Mexicans were guilty of over-elaboration when it came to shooting. Starlet Andres Guardado sold the Argentine defence a delightful dummy ten minutes before half time but delayed too long and only grazed the outside of the post when he finally let rip.

Holders Brazil reached the final of the 2007 Copa America by beating Uruguay 5-4 on penalties after a 2-2 draw in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Inter's Maicon opened the scoring for the seleçao in the 13th minute before former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan equalised for Uruguay in the 36th and ex-Arsenal man Julio Baptista sent Brazil into a 2-1 lead with a strike five minutes before the interval. Los Charrúas' Sebastián Abreu levelled matters at 2-2 in the 71st minute and no further goals followed through extra-time, resulting in a penalty shootout.

The 2007 CONMEBOL Copa America quarter-finals produced an avalanche of 22 goals this weekend in Venezuela. Much fancied Argentina's comprehensive 4-0 dismissal of Peru in Barquisimeto was the lowest-scoring of the ties. Attacking ace Juan Riquelme notched a pair of goals while Lionel Messi and Javier Mascherano added to the second half blue and white windfall. The prize for Argentina is a mouth-watering semi-final clash with Mexico, the revelation of the tournament. Their semi-final is a chance for the Central Americans to bounce back after the USA pipped them 2-1 to win June's CONCACAF Gold Cup , as well as an opportunity to extract revenge from Argentina for eliminating them by the odd goal at last summer's World Cup in Germany.

While the relocation of a club franchise hundreds of miles from one city to another is virtually unheard of in English football, such rebranding exercises are commonplace in Australia. All the football codes do it, sometimes even blending two established teams into one and moving the entire operation to a new home. The NSL, Australia's now-defunct national soccer league, was no stranger to clubs coming and going throughout its turbulent 28-year history, and now the same is happening again to its successor the A-League. The current set-up, although certainly more surefooted, has been unable to resist churning one of its eight foundation teams despite the league being just two years old.

The sport's world governing body certainly put the cat amongst the South American pigeons last week when it announced that no more games would be played at altitude, for health and safety reasons. This curious and unexpected directive seemed to me at first to have been an arbitrary blow against Ecuador and Bolivia, whose national teams play internationals in their high-altitude capitals. Ecuador qualified for the 2006 World Cup thanks to an unbeaten home record in Quito (elevation 2,800 metres) which included the scalps of traditional South American superpowers Brazil and Argentina.

The USA is getting ready to launch a bid to host the 2018 World Cup Finals, according to its soccer federation president. USSF boss Sunil Gulati told the Washington Post, "We showed in 1994 that the U.S. is capable of hosting a terrific event. Now, with the way the soccer landscape in this country has evolved, we would be in position to put on a spectacular event." No official bids have been launched for the 2018 tournament yet, but England's FA have already signalled their intention to run, confirmed by a UK government statement of support. China is widely expected to launch a bid for the tournament and Australia has also been mentioned several times in world football circles as a possible competitor.

Brazil remain top, followed by Italy, Argentina and France. England are down to 6th, down one place as Germany leapfrog them into the top 5. Big climbers are Vietnam. 1 Brazil 2 Italy 3 Argentina 4 France 5 Germany 6 England 7 Netherlands 8 Nigeria 9 Portugal 10 Czech Republic FIFA World Rankings Tags FIFA

Quotes to follow tomorrow but, as expected, the Brazilians proved effusive customers as they prepared for the final with a session in Frankfurt two hours before their opponents... apart, that is, from Gilberto Silva, who was plain elusive. Brazil's confidence is understandably high and the players were conspicuously relaxed as they went through a 10 v 10 practice match using only half the pitch. Ronaldinho may look good wearing most things, but a rapper's bandana is not one of them. Players and journalists alike got the jaw-jaw out of the way with half an eye on catching the u-20 curtain-raiser live from the Netherlands, which Brazil promptly lost.