Brazil is negotiating a friendly match with Serbia or the Czech Republic.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 11 (Reuters) The Brazilian national team is in negotiations with Serbia and the Czech Republic to schedule a friendly match before the World Cup against a team that plays a similar style of football to Croatia, their first opponent in next year's World Cup, the Brazilian coaching staff announced on Wednesday.

Brazil plans to play two friendly matches during its preparation period for the World Cup, which begins with the players reporting for training on May 26th at Granja Comary, in Teresópolis (RJ). The matches are scheduled for June 4th and 7th.

For the first game, the search is for an opponent with characteristics similar to Croatia, who will face Brazil in São Paulo on June 12th. The following friendly should be played against a Central American team that plays in a style similar to Mexico – Brazil's opponent on June 17th in Fortaleza.

Brazil's other opponent in the first phase of the World Cup will be Cameroon, on June 23rd, in Brasília.

"Serbia is one of the candidates, they are a strong team, technically very good," said the technical coordinator of the Brazilian national team, Carlos Alberto Parreira, in a lecture about Brazil's preparation for the World Cup, alongside coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, during the Footecon football forum at a hotel in Copacabana.

According to Parreira and Felipão, another option is the Czech Republic. In the last friendly before the World Cup, the idea is to find an opponent against whom the national team "doesn't have so many difficulties, doesn't have a physical situation that could be a problem," according to the coach. This team would come from Central America, but they haven't revealed any possible rivals.

Looking ahead to the Round of 16 of the World Cup, in which Brazil will face a team from the group formed by Spain, Netherlands, Chile and Australia, the coach said that he prefers to avoid the Chileans, even if it means facing one of the finalists of the 2010 World Cup (Spain and Netherlands).

"Chile is a South American classic, a rivalry. Europe is better, there's no rivalry at all, everyone plays their own game. They (Spain) are favorites, both teams have responsibility, and it's fine for us to play, our game will fit together," the coach stated.

Felipão will announce the 23 players called up for the World Cup on May 7th.

The coach acknowledged that he still has doubts about finalizing the squad, and cited the examples of midfielder Willian, from Chelsea, and striker Robinho, from Milan, who were not part of the Confederations Cup-winning team but who stood out in Brazil's last two games this year, against Honduras and Chile.

"It was great to bring in Willian, and it was great to bring in Robinho. We've gone up to 25, 26 players. So it gets increasingly difficult," the coach stated. "Some doubts are my own; I'll only resolve those doubts at the time of the squad announcement."

Before the World Cup squad announcement, the Brazilian national team will play a single friendly match in 2014, against South Africa, in Johannesburg, on March 5th.

(Reporting by Pedro Fonseca)