Listen to the full chat with Tim via the Off The Ball Football Show podcast above 

With the FIFA World Cup just 100 days away, this week's international friendlies are of utmost importance as they are the last games before managers choose their extended squads for the tournament.

To get the South American perspective, we spoke to BBC South American football expert Tim Vickery, who joins us every Tuesday. 

Brazil

Host nation Brazil have chosen to play a friendly against South Africa in Johannesburg rather than a home match, a decision which Tim finds odd.

"It's a baffling choice but Brazil would say that their choice of friendlies is in the hands of their commercial partners. But it doesn't make a lot of sense. You would have thought that it would be good to give a further test to some of these World Cup stadiums."

 

Argentina

Argentina are also away, in Romania. But the unlikely return of Serie A top scorer Carlos Tevez to the fold is being mooted. The Juventus striker, who is an idol with the fans, has been frozen out, with question marks over how he gels with Lionel Messi.

"His presence in the side has wrecked their last two tournaments. He was out of the side before the last World Cup but Maradona loves him and had to find a place for him and unbalanced his entire team. There was always a feeling that there was bad blood between Tevez and Messi, maybe more from Tevez' side," said Tim, who does not think Argentina need him as Messi and Sergio Aguero are superior players. But he acknowledges that Tevez is still important politically because of his idol status which is putting pressure on the manager Alejandro Sabella.

Tim also discussed why Man City's much-maligned Martin Demichelis was "not so much dropped by Argentina, as hurled aside."

 

Ecuador

Ecuador, who play Switzerland in their Group E opener in Brazil, take on Australia at Millwall’s The Den.

“It’s an important game for Ecuador because they are very worried about starting a World Cup slowly,” said Tim. “If you look at Ecuador at their first World Cup in 2002, they didn't play their best football until the third game. So what Ecuador are putting a lot of priority on is starting the World Cup now. They want to take on these (friendly) matches with an intensity of that makes sure they won't start slowly."