International Football Friendly Brazil versus Chile 24 April 2013

Last December we offered up some discussion on Brazil's coach Luiz Felipe Scolari wanting to add stronger competitors to the national team's football friendly lineup.

Friendly matches remain against a host of quality sides including Italy (March 21), Russia (March 25), England (June 2), France (June 9) and Sweden (August 14) coupled with the Confederations Cup to be staged by the 2014 World Cup hosts in June.

Brazil will also play Chile in yet another warm-up to the Confederations Cup per a report at Yahoo! Europsport.com. The football friendly will take place on April 24 at the renovated Mineirao in Belo Horizonte.

Looks like Scolari ended up with his "competitive" football friendlies as the coach hopes to guide Brazil's national team to yet another World Cup title; this time on home soil.

International Football Friendly 6 February 2013 Wales versus Austria

When: 6 February 2013

Who: Wales (82) vs. Austria (68)
*FIFA rankings as of January 2013 via Soccerway.com

Where: Liberty Stadium, Swansea

+ Back in January Football Friendlies speculated regarding Craig Bellamy's return to national duty. Indeed, head coach Chris Coleman included the forward for the Austria match. Hopefully we will see the Welsh national side's full attacking prowess with Bellamy, Gareth Bale, Joe Allen and Aaron Ramsey together on the pitch.

+ Eager to see how 21-year-old Austrian striker Andreas Weimann performs due to his familiarity with many of the Welsh players and the Liberty Stadium. He's enjoying a decent season with Aston Villa.

+ Austria faces two beatable opponents this March as the team attempts to navigate the World Cup qualification process. First up, the Faroe Islands journey to Austria, after that match, Das Team heads to Ireland.

Speculative Final Score: Wales 3-1 over Austria with goals from Bale, Bellamy and Ashley Williams.

Brazil and Sweden to meet on 14 August 2013

Skål! It's another Brazil vs. Sweden friendly.

The Brazilians, who traveled to Stockholm in August 2012 for a 3-0 friendly victory over Sweden will once again match up with the European side on 14 August 2013 per the CBF, Brazil's football confederation. The venue for the competition was announced recently as St. Jakob Park in Basel, Switzerland.

Brazil competes in the FIFA Confederations Cup from June 15 to June 30; several other friendlies are lined up this year including the 6 February 2013 match with England.

Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari wants more competitive friendlies

New Brazil national team coach Luiz Felipe Scolari noted recently that the CBF, Brazil's football confederation, needs to take a critical look at future friendly matches. Tougher, mentally challenging contests against the world's best are needed as the South American squad preps to host the 2014 World Cup.

"I am going to request that, where possible, we play against the toughest opposition possible," Scolari said.

Brazil's last six opponents include: Sweden, South Africa, China, Columbia, Iraq and Japan. Only Columbia could be considered an upper echelon FIFA member.

Upcoming matches with England (February 2013) and France (June 2013) coupled with the Confederations Cup in June will boost the level of play.