Ronaldinho is set to return for Brazil at home to Ecuador in their second qualifier for the 2006 World Cup on Wednesday after missing Sunday's 2-1 win in Colombia through suspension.

The Barcelona forward's comeback will allow coach Carlos Alberto Parreira to return to the "three Rs" attack favoured by his predecessor Luiz Felipe Scolari at last year's World Cup.

The difficulty for Parreira could be in deciding who to leave out after a convincing performance against in Colombia in Barranquilla when Brazil began the defence of the world title.

Brazil, who trained in front of a 15,000 crowd at the Vivaldao stadium in the Amazon por city of Manaus on Monday, used six midfielders against Colombia, Alex, Ze Roberto, Emerson and Gilberto, who all started, and substitutes Kaka and Renato.

All performed well, although AS Roma's Emerson is the least popular with the Brazilian media.

One of them, however, will have to make way, assuming that Rivaldo, who is a reserve at AC Milan and looked short of match fitness on Sunday, keeps his place in the team.

Ecuador, whose appearance in Japan and South Korea last year was their first at a World Cup finals, began with a 2-0 home win over Venezuela on Saturday and are in confident mood.

Their success in qualifying, which included a first-ever win over Brazil on the way, has provided an enormous boost to the self-confidence of a team who until recently had a reputation for taking the field with the idea they were going to lose.

"We're going to try and win," said Ecuador's Colombian coach Hernan Dario Gomez, a stalwart of World Cup qualifying campaigns.

"Brazil are a great team but I have a great team as well. Ecuador can produce surprises."

Parreira, however, said he expected an ultra-defensive approach from the visitors.

"We have to be prepared to face, once again, a very defensive team and we'll need to be very patient," he warned.

Ecuador will be without 35-year-old captain Alex Aguinaga who limped out of the match with Venezuela before halftime after taking a knock on the knee.

The Ecuador Football Federation said that Aguinaga, who has more than 100 caps, will be out of action for around 10 days.

Probable teams:

Brazil - Dida; Cafu, Lucio, Roque Junior, Roberto Carlos; Gilberto Silva, Ze Roberto, Alex, Rivaldo; Ronaldinho, Ronaldo.

Ecuador - Jose Cevallos; Ulises de la Cruz, Giovanni Espinoza, Ivan Hurtado, Neicer Reasco; Alfonso Obregon, Edwin Tenorio, Edison Mendez, Kleber Chala; Otilino Tenorio, Carlos Tenorio.

Referee - Luis Solorzano (Venezuela).