FIFA World Cup 2010: Dunga fired by the Brazilian Football Confederation
Dunga who has been in charge of Brazil since August 2006 has been dismissed by the Brazilian Football Confederation after Brazil lost to Netherlands in the quarter finals of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Dunga had been criticized for his non-Brazilian approach to the game by several media outlets in Brazil and abroad as well.
Dunga led Brazil to World Cup glory as a player in 1994 when the FIFA World Cup was held in U.S.A. Dunga played as a defensive midfielder in the 1994 World Cup and captained the national team. In 2007, he led the Brazilian team as a manager to their second consecutive Copa America title as well.
Dunga changed the way Brazilian football was managed and selected players who were performing well for their clubs and stopped the trend of integrating all superstars into the lineup. He also started looking for players from otherwise little known clubs such as Vagner Love from CSKA Moscow and several other players from the Brazilian league as well.
Dunga mostly played a 4-2-3-1 formation during his time with Brazil. With two defensive midfielders, one trequartista and a sole attacker upfront, due to this he was blamed for destroying the Brazilian attacking flair which the team is famous for. Dunga also left some big names out of his World Cup squad, players such as the two times ex-World Player of the Year Ronaldinho, Pato, Diego and Ronaldo were not selected.
After starting the tournament as one of the favorites to win the World Cup, Dunga’s demise came after Brazil lost their quarterfinal match against Netherlands, in a match which saw Brazil take the lead, Holland came back into the match after the Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo was sent off after stomping on Dutch winger Robben’s thigh.
Brazil eventually lost the game by 2 goals to 1. This was their second straight exit from the FIFA World Cup finals at the quarter final stage. In the 2006 World Cup, Brazil lost at the same stage of the tournament to Zinedine Zidane’s France by the score line of a goal to nil.
After the quarter final match against Netherlands, Dunga indicated that he might leave as the manager of the Brazilian national team. Brazilian Football Confederation released a statement on Sunday 4th of July stating that the cycle of work that had begun in August of 2006 has ended with Brazil’s elimination from the FIFA World Cup of 2010 in South Africa.
The statement also said that the “technical committee of the national team has been released”. BFC also specified that the next appointment might be made at the end of the month of July.
Dunga, who is now 46 years old, signed a four year contract in August with the BCF. The ex-Brazilian captain and manager said that he had signed a four year contract and this was very clear from the beginning. Implying that it was his time to go after the World Cup had ended in disappointment for Brazil.
He said that in the past four calendar years, Brazil had done well and he had enjoyed his job. He said that to understand how the Brazilian players feel right now, one should only take a look at their faces. He also said that Brazil had expected for a different result against Netherlands and acknowledge the fact that they failed to maintain the tempo that they were playing with in the first half of the match.
He said that the match was always going to be very difficult and very “delicate”. One of the favorites to take over at the helm of Brazilian football affairs is Luis Felipe Scolari; the ex-Chelsea manager who led the Brazilian team to World Cup glory in the 2002 FIFA World Cup said in a statement that he is unable to respond to any offers until 2012 because of his contract with the Brazilian football club Palmeiras. He also added that “It would be great to finish my career coaching a team at the World Cup to be staged in Brazil”.
One of the other managers who is favorite to take up the prestigious position is Leonardo who was part of the 1994 World Cup winning squad as well. Leonardo parted ways with the Italian club A.C Milan last week after a bad run of results for the team.
Tags: