The Brazilian team will play a friendly against Vietnam next month before going to Beijing in quest of its first Olympic football gold medal.

The match is scheduled to be held at the My Dinh stadium in Hanoi on Aug. 1, Tran Quoc Tuan, secretary general of Vietnam Football Federation, announced today.

In football-crazy Vietnam, the game is a dream match that will thrill both players and fans, Tuan said.

"The chances of the Brazilian team traveling to Southeast Asia are very remote," Tuan said. "This is a very good opportunity, not only for our players to learn from them, but also for our fans to see some of the world's best players."

Among the 18 players Brazilian coach Carlos Dunga is bringing to Beijing is Ronaldinho, who this week transferred from Spanish club Barcelona to AC Milan of Italy.

Other players include Robinho of Real Madrid.

Brazil has won the World Cup for five times, but has yet to win the Olympic competition, where teams are allowed only three players aged over 23.

Tuan declined to say how much Vietnam is paying the Brazilian team, but state-controlled media have reported that the price is €300,000 (US$475,000).

Juventus was the only other major soccer team to play Vietnam in a friendly match, when the powerful Italian club visited in 1996.

Vietnam's population of 86 million is crazy about football, with millions of people pouring into the streets each time their team wins a regional match.

The announcement of the match comes just weeks after Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet urged visiting Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to boost bilateral cooperation in football.

(Agencies via Shanghai Daily July 18, 2008)