Brazil aims to "go to World Cup with Maracana fans"

Brazil plan to sign off on their 2018 World Cup preparations with an international friendly at the Maracana stadium in May, according to team coordinator Edu Gaspar.

Brazil's opponents in the match have yet to be determined though they are unlikely to be a traditional football powerhouse, according to Selecao officials, reports Xinhua news agency.

"It would be a farewell, a contact with our fans, we want to play a game in Rio de Janeiro," Gaspar was quoted as saying by the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper.

"We think it will help us and it will be a way for us to say that we are all going (to the World Cup) together."

Brazil will begin their pre-World Cup training camp in the city of Teresopolis, near Rio de Janeiro, on May 21. The Selecao hierarchy have earmarked May 26 as an ideal date for the friendly, Folha de S.Paulo said.

The team will then travel to England, where they will use Tottenham Hotspur's new training facility in north London, before basing themselves in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi for the World Cup.

--IANS

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