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Luiz Felipe Scolari has pledged to turn Roman Abramovich's footballing dreams into reality by teaching Chelsea to play like Brazil. The manager's first opportunity to show off his new-look team comes tomorrow, when Portsmouth visit Stamford Bridge, and he has challenged his players to prove they are good enough to be World Cup winners.

Scolari's vision for a beautiful game was a factor in his appointment as the successor to Avram Grant, with Abramovich demanding more entertainment after the drab fare served up by the Israeli. The signings of Deco and José Bosingwa should help to achieve that aim, and Robinho could still join from Real Madrid.

“The idea is to put on the field, to play our game, something as similar to Brazilian football as we can,” Scolari said. “But I have players who are made for English football and the characteristics are different. We try to learn things about dribbling, controlling the ball, passing the ball, touching the ball and one-twos. We try. But I need to respect the identity of the players. I need to respect the quality of the players. I need to impress on them what I think about football.” Yet Scolari is aware of the consequences of failing to live up to Abramovich's requirements.

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“Abramovich wants Chelsea to play very well and win,” he said. “The fans are the same. They want us to play very well and win. They want us to play beautifully and win, but they need to understand that sometimes it's difficult to play beautifully and win. Sometimes it's impossible because the other team plays a different style.

“It's my style, anyway. I am a coach now for 24 or 25 years and I try to play very well and win. If you don't win, people forget that you played very well. People kill you. I know this for sure. And you press know this. You can play very well for one or two months, then you don't win and it's over. They kill you!”

For the experience that he has accumulated over a long career, Scolari, 59, appears genuinely excited about his new challenge, with tomorrow's match his first in charge of a club side since he managed Cruzeiro in the Brazilian championship seven years ago. He is not without problems, with Deco and Michael Essien picking up injuries this week and Nicolas Anelka his only fit striker.

“It's my first time at Stamford Bridge so it's very exciting,” Scolari said. “There'll be 85 per cent of the fans supporting Chelsea and I can't wait for the game to take place. It's just one more game in my life, but it's a game in the best league with the best clubs in the world, where the fans like football 24 hours a day. That's different to other countries.

“I need to prove for me and for the players, to the men that made a contract with me, that I'm very good and work hard. I want to get to know my players, to know whether they are as excited as me for this game and this season. I saw many games in the pre-season and if you say one or two will compete then you are wrong. I saw eight who look very good, not just Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. This season if we beat the big three, we will not necessarily win the title. Tottenham and Portsmouth are also very strong, they could both win the league.”