Make no mistake about it, in footballing terms, the Brazil coach — literally — has his five talents, and perhaps even more. Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Kaká, Robinho and Adriano: he may be the first national team coach in history to boast such a gifted attacking quartet.

With talent comes responsibility. And, though it may run counter to the conventional wisdom of today’s football, with so much ability up front, Parreira feels compelled to play four of the five simultaneously. “We are going to keep that system,” he said. “At least at the start of the competition. I can’t say what happens afterward, if we need to change, we will change things. But that’s my promise. At least to start, that is our formation. You will see the Quartet.”

The “Quartet”. Tactical anathema. Four outrageously gifted players who, at club level, have very little defensive responsibility and, it is thought, have neither the aptitude nor the habit of tracking back and winning the ball when Brazil do not have possession. Yet they will have to do just that in Germany . . .

“Otherwise they won’t win the World Cup,” he said. “This is an attacking team, yes, but when we don’t have the ball, if we don’t learn how to come back, occupy the spaces, work for each other, then we will not win. You can’t win by attack alone. Not today.”

Many see his biggest challenge as persuading his “Quartet” to work for each other effectively, allowing Brazil to get the tactical balance they need to win. Yet for Parreira, the real hurdle is psychological. Brazil have reached the past three World Cup finals, winning two of them: the novelty factor has worn off and, with it, the hunger.

“That’s the challenge, to make them hungry again,” he said. “I’m not worried about our system or our tactics. And of course I’m not worried about the technique of the players. But if we are going to win, it’s going to be with our heads. It will be a mental victory. If we are mentally strong, we will be very difficult to beat. Very difficult.

“Because that’s the contradiction. We in Brazil have always had the best players by far, but even with the best players we went 24 years without winning the World Cup. Quality and talent are not enough to be world champions.”

Perhaps more than any other World Cup, it does seem as if the cliché applies: only Brazil can beat themselves. Only some kind of mental breakdown on their part can give anybody else a chance. Yet that kind of interpretation is wrong, according to Parreira. Because the truth is that the World Cup is not a judge of ability, it is a judge of performance over seven matches.

“In that sense, it’s not fair, it doesn’t tell you who the best team in the competition is,” he said. “In a league, you can lose games and still win if you are the best. In the World Cup, you can’t have a bad day. I suppose that is why football is the No1 sport in the world. More than any other sport, the smaller team can beat the bigger team. You don’t see it in basketball or volleyball or rugby. The small teams always have a chance. There might be a refereeing mistake or an individual mistake or they can stop the better from playing or maybe it is just luck.

“You already saw it in 2002. Look at what South Korea did to Spain and Italy, they almost reached the final. The US were much better than Germany on the day, they should have knocked them out. And yet we attach so much importance to this competition, to these seven games.”

Jorge Valdano, the Argentina striker, maintains that football is not about the winners, it is about the great teams, which is why people remember the 1974 Holland team or the 1954 Hungary side more than those who defeated them in the final. Parreira says that was once the case, but now it is different. “I remember Holland 74 and Hungary 54, but today it is all changed,” he said. “Winning is more important than anything else. If you don’t win, nobody remembers you.”

Parreira’s rise in the game is as remarkable as it is unusual. Fresh out of university with a degree in physical education, he joined the Brazilian Football Association as a fitness coach and in 1970, when he was 26, he was sent to the World Cup in Mexico, where he worked with arguably the finest national squad in history, the Brazil side that featured Pelé, Carlos Alberto, Jairzinho and Rivelino. Quite a difference from Europe, where the old “jobs-for-the-boys” attitude of employing former players as coaches remains the norm. Twenty-four years later, he would return to the national team as head coach and bring the World Cup back to Brazil after an agonising and humiliating wait.