Qwest to see Brazil's best

The advertising campaign for Seattle's new MLS franchise proclaims, "The World's Game is Coming to Seattle."

Turns out, it's coming sooner than expected.

Soccer United Marketing announced Monday that the No. 2 team in the world, Brazil, will bring its famous yellow jerseys with green trim to Qwest Field on May 31 to face Canada in an international friendly.

Tickets ($35 to $125) go on sale Monday at Ticketmaster and the Sounders FC ticket office.

Brazil will be preparing for a World Cup qualifying match against Paraguay on June 14, so it likely will carry some of its top players. Its roster could feature such international luminaries as Kaka, Ronaldinho, Robinho and Alexandre Pato.

Kaka, the FIFA world player of the year, is in his fifth season in Italy's Serie A with AC Milan, where he has scored 53 goals in 158 league matches. Pato, Kaka's teammate in Milan, has eight goals in his first season. At 18, Pato is a rising star for Brazil and at 17 years, 102 days, was the youngest player to score a goal in the history of official FIFA competition, breaking the record of countryman Pele.

Ronaldinho, the 2004 and 2005 FIFA player of the year, has netted 70 goals in five seasons with FC Barcelona, but has been plagued by injuries this season. Robinho also is in Spain, playing with Real Madrid, for whom he has 24 goals in league play over three seasons.

Brazil has not played in Seattle since May 1976, in the USA Bicentennial Cup. Canada, whose roster features Houston Dynamo forward Dwayne De Rosario, played in Seattle in the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

The Seattle P-I first reported the Brazil-Canada match on April 16, the day 56,416 saw Mexico beat China 1-0 at Qwest Field.