Brazil set to drop the dead Dunga

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Taken from the guardian

Jumento is the Portuguese word for donkey. It is rarely heard in Brazilian football stadiums, but 298 minutes without a single goal was simply too much for the 50,000 Brazil supporters who yelled it in Dunga's direction during Wednesday's feeble goalless draw with Argentina.

Brazil are fifth in the 2010 World Cup qualifying table and would have to endure a playoff were it to end now. This month's defeats against Venezuela (in a friendly) and Paraguay, and then the first goalless classico in 22 years, have left the coach on the point of dismissal.

The curiosity is that at the same time Brazilians can see six of their exports representing adopted countries at Euro 2008 - it would have been seven if Croatia's Eduardo had not been injured for Arsenal - three of them, Marcos Senna of Spain, along with Portugal's Deco and Pepe, have been playing extremely well in positions the Selecao are struggling to fill. Poland's Roger Guerreiro, Kevin Kuranyi of Germany and Mehmet Aurelio of Turkey would also have had their uses.

Senna is a defensive midfielder who knows what to do with the ball, something that appears to be taught less and less by Brazilian coaches right now and as Dunga insists on lining up three of their kind in the same team, there is no room for a Deco-like individual.

Then there is Pepe, a better defender than Lucio or Juan, and someone the player's father claims that Luiz Felipe Scolari had advised Dunga to select, only for the national team coach to declare him 'not good enough for Brazil'. Scolari, however, knew he would be for Portugal.

Dunga's problems have not piled up just because of his bad results, although they have not helped his situation. His Brazil play unattractive football, the crowd are criticising the team and it does not help things when Ronaldinho and Kaka have been left to watch from the stands. Yes, they are officially injured, but they have never been treated like adults and will not put themselves out for the coach. The countdown has begun.

Dunga's reign is causing problems the Selecao have not had since 2001 and his days in the job are coming to an end. The Brazilian federation's press officer has even leaked the news that 'few people can stand Dunga or his style, and the patience is about to end'.

Players are starting to speak out, too, and Kaka has publicly criticised the coach. The influential TV Globo station refuses to accept Dunga's restrictions on player interviews and the coach now finds himself swimming against the tide. He has one last shot: the Olympics. What if he were to bring the gold medal back from Beijing? Although the tournament is not that highly regarded in Europe, it is of genuine importance in Brazil. It is the only major trophy they have never won and as few other Brazilians win Olympic medals, the players know that to do so this time would raise their status to that of national heroes.

If an Olympic title would make it hard to exchange Dunga for Vanderlei Luxemburgo - the national coach from 1998-2000 - failure in Beijing would make his return a certainty. Luxemburgo and Scolari, the coach Brazilians really want, would have two fundamental advantages over Dunga. They automatically have respect and would get obedience from the players, while avoiding conflict with the likes of Kaka and Ronaldinho. Indeed, they would be more likely to find a way to play them alongside Robinho and Alexandre Pato than leave them on the sidelines.

Dunga took on the job after the disaster of Germany 2006, when France eliminated Brazil in the quarter-finals and the federation concluded that Carlos Alberto Parreira had a singular lack of command, allowing players to do more or less what they wanted. Brazil needed clear leadership, a man who would be respected. They decided that man was Dunga - the World Cup-winning captain of 1994 and a finalist at France 98. Everybody seemed to forget that he had never coached a team.

His first act, freshening up the team while leaving out Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaka, was applauded. But then he took it too far and the players who should have been the pillars of his reign soon became distant after several pointless exchanges, many of them in public.

Ronaldinho and Kaka are needed if Brazil are to recover and the CBF president, Ricardo Teixeira, has asked Ronaldinho to join the squad for the Olympics and will force Dunga to take him to Beijing.

In Dunga's defence it should be said that it is a challenge to try to combine Ronaldinho, Kaka, Robinho and Pato without compromising the defence, albeit one that seems worth taking and one that surely would be attempted by a more experienced - and talented - coach.

The coach has decided to select teams with three or even four defensive midfielders - it is impossible not to remember that he was one himself - even though his most selected trio, Gilberto Silva, Josué and Mineiro, are only squad members at their clubs and while all three of them can win the ball, they do not have the capacity to use it well.

Instead of varying tactics, Dunga has done the opposite. He argues that Brazil won the Copa America last year playing that way yet he forgets that his team were lucky to beat Uruguay on penalties in the semi-finals and that an early goal against Argentina in the final helped set the tone and the system prospered briefly.

Dunga says that he likes his teams to defend well and to score through quick counter-attacks. After seeing 50,000 Brazil fans applaud Argentina's Lionel Messi when he was substituted on Wednesday, the coach should know now, if he did not before, that Brazilians enjoy watching football. Real football.
Is Dunga picking the right team?

Dunga's team v Argentina (4-2-2-2): Julio Cesar (Inter); Maicon (Inter), Juan (Roma), Lucio (B Munich), Gilberto (Spurs); Gilberto Silva (Arsenal), Mineiro (Hertha Berlin); Anderson (Man Utd), Baptista (Real Madrid); Robinho (Real Madrid), Adriano (Inter).

Julio Gomes Filho's suggested way forward (4-3-3): Julio Cesar (Inter); D Alves (Barcelona), Juan (Roma), Lucio (B Munich), Marcelo (Real Madrid); Hernanes (Sao Paulo), Ze Roberto (B Munich), Kaka (Milan); Robinho (Real Madrid), Ronaldinho (Barcelona), Pato (Milan).

eZe^

Hernanes looks some bloody talent... Looks like the next Kaka mould... One to look out for in the future lads....


Anyway, unlucky Dunga, you tried your best to implement a system that didn't rely on the players with the lazy, party-head star mentality that is becoming more and more prevelant in their big players these days. I can see a serious reluctance in top clubs buying Brazilians for ridiculous prices in the future, instead the Argentines and Africans will be employed... Wait and see.

leninbenjamin

eZe^ wrote: »

I can see a serious reluctance in top clubs buying Brazilians for ridiculous prices in the future, instead the Argentines and Africans will be employed... Wait and see.

where have you been son? it's already started.

i feel sorry for Dunga, but from what i hear he has to go. All i've read of late is how Brazilian football is an absolute mess these days. I wonder would the CBF have the guts to hire a European manager to impart the badly needed discipline. Someone like Beenhakker, Hiddink or Otto Rehhagel who's strengths are organisation and discipline, something it seems the Brazilians have been lacking since 2002.

JMB88

It was always on the cards I thought, I watched Brazils last two qualifers and goddam were they poor. Brazil were always good for a bit of entertainment but they seriously lacked in all departments in these two matchs I saw. Their WC home qualifier record is also in serious threat.

estebancambias

They weren't in the real Brazil in the world cup either. So boring.

cHaTbOx

eZe^ wrote: »

Hernanes looks some bloody talent... Looks like the next Kaka mould... One to look out for in the future lads....
.

I heard he's going to barca

hotspur

I watched the game against Argentina and it struck me how weird the world was when they were fielding a left back who is 2nd choice at Spurs, a midfielder who can't get into the Arsenal team, a 2nd string Man Utd midfielder (though I think Anderson is a wonderful prospect), a forward who couldn't get into the team when on loan at Arsenal, and another forward who became a fat depressed alcoholic and was banished from inter to Brazil.

Hardly the 1970 team!