Intro:

Former Brazil captain Thiago Silva is hopeful of starting his first international match since last summer's World Cup humiliation on 'home' soil when the Selecao take on France in a friendly in Paris on Thursday.

Script:

SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Dunga, Brazil coach:

"I want to have a modern, compact team, which is aggressive, but without forgetting the essentials of Brazilian football, which are dribble and creativity. We have very little time to prepare a team for all this, but even with one training session, we can try to optimise and to prepare for the match for tomorrow."

SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Dunga, Brazil coach:  (question about Thiago Silva and the fact that he lost his captain armband after the 7-1 defeat to Germany in the 2014 World Cup semi-finals)

"The following matches will show if Thiago overcame the World Cup disappointment. We believe in him, in his technical and tactical capacities. We are all emotional, we are Latinos, but most importantly he has to keep a balance and to control his feelings, in the good and in the bad moments."