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The New Dunga Era

October 14th, 2006 | By: Euler Costa | 23 Comments »

Dunga is testing a striking number of players during these last friendly matches. Luis Paulo wrote in his ‘Bread and Circus’ text something that I thought right after CBF announced Parreira’s replacement: give the people a remedy for the immediate pain. Bring a fierce and audacious man to replace the slow moron that insisted with Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo… in any case, the next World Cup is too far away for anyone to be really concerned with Dunga’s performance. He can easily be replaced if the tides turn on him, as it normally happens.

The Dunga Era

But what about the striking number of players being tested? I don’t know anyone that really cares about that right now. It is just a natural consequence after the shameful failure of the ‘big names’ in this year’s World Cup. To call Ronaldinho and keep him on the bench, and Kaka too? What do you think? We can hear the TV reporters laughing, saying that the bench stratagem is working as we didn’t lose any matches until now. At least they are trying to bring people something to talk about, but with very little success. I watched Brazil against “Kuwait” (another luxury practice against a club with some extras) and the next day I tried to exchange opinions with a striking number of friends but very few of them had anything to say about it. Nineteen Brazilian players were used in that match…

Of course it was fun to humble Argentina once again and annoying to read them being bad losers as always but other than that we are fully aware that we did not face any real competition within these five matches after Zidane’s ball. If we look at the recent history of our latest opponents we’ll see that there is no merit in these results. Au contraire! Let’s take 2006 as our thermometer:

Brazil 1:1 Norway – This is, in fact, an intriguing mystery. Brazil never won over Norway. We lost twice and tied for the second time this year. Even so we can say that they don’t have a strong team. This year they played 9 times: 2 wins, 3 ties and 4 losses.

Brazil 3:0 Argentina – That is always fun, of course. We always read from them that they won Brazil in the World Cup qualifying 3:1 but they surely forget that we have beaten them by the exact same score in the exact same competition. What they easily fail to remember is that we won the Copa America 2004 over them at the final and that we got the Confederation’s Cup after a humiliating 4:1 final (they love to say their team was not the A one… neither was ours at that time). Oops! We did it again! They will say that it was only bad luck, of course.

Brazil 2:0 Wales – What can I say about this game? Wales played 7 matches this year and won only 2 times… against Cyprus and Trinidad and Tobago.

Brazil 4:0 Kuwait – Ha, ha. At least the Sheiks paid ‘rivers of money’ (as we say here in Brazil) to CBF to play that role.

Brazil 2:1 Ecuador – It is a bad taste joke, this result. Ecuador lost a man in the middle of the first half and all they could do was 2 goals? Against a team that played 11 times this year and lost 6? They lost against Macedonia and Japan! They won over Costa Rica, Honduras and Poland only!

These matches are only the first steps of a new coach. Africa 2010 is still very far away from now and many other tests will take place until then. Of course this new Dunga era is very interesting because we know he still carries that fresh naïveté one must have to start a new mindset; to make players believe they must fight with all their fibers to earn a place in this new Seleção. At least it is nice to watch some ‘non-European’ players in the squad. Anyway, Dunga is a grown man and probably knows that he is being tested as well.

Is he going to last? Who cares? I will worry about that when the 2010 qualifying games begin. Today I’m only worried if the Seleção is able to avoid any international embarrassment, like losing to Ecuador or Wales. After beating Argentina 3:0 Dunga is safe for a while, mainly after he benched Ronaldinho and he finally performed one third of what he usually presents (or used to present) at FC Barcelona.

The punch line? Dunga said the next friendly against Switzerland will be tough. “They fight all the time, never giving space to the other team”. Oh Lord, please!

To wrap this up: the irony! Ronaldinho was awarded by the Swedish channel TV4 (after an internet poll) as the best Brazilian football player EVER, leaving Pelé (2nd) and Ronaldo (3rd) behind. It seems that Sweden didn’t remember the 1958 final when Pelé dazzled the world scoring twice against the hosts as we can read from the Fifa site: “Brazil, inspired by a 17-year-old youngster called Pelé, won the trophy for the first time. Pelé scored against Wales, hit a hat-trick in a 5-2 win over France in the semi-finals and struck two more in the final, a 5-2 triumph over the hosts.”

Well, I can only hope Brazil start playing some heavy weight adversaries soon… Or we can try to book a match against American Samoa… what do you think?

Tags: Argentina, Brazil, Carlos Alberto Parreira, Dunga, Ecuador, friendly, Kuwait, Norway, Pele, Ronaldinho Gaucho, Ronaldo, Sweden, Switzerland, Wales

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Comments

By conceicao | October 15th, 2006 at 12:06 am

I have to agree with you on the Ecuador game.
Fred’s goal was a gift and the rest was pretty feeble with the exception of Ronaldinho’s free
kicks which I thought were of extemely high
quality despite just missing. And, when is the
team going to show any improvement defending
the kind of set play France scored on in the WC?

Let me add that I remain outraged by the scam
perpetrated on Brasil in the ‘98 WC with the
phantom holding call that cost the Norway
game. After that outrage and all of insults to
Zagallo both before and after the game from the Norway coach, Dunga et al should be ashamed of the result in Oslo. I have
not forgiven the Chilenos for hitting
Garrincha with that bottle back in ‘62 either.

Thanks for the thread.

Posted from United States

By Euler | October 15th, 2006 at 11:13 am

People are saying that Ronaldinho practiced too much hitting the ball on the bar for that Nike commercial.

By fernie | October 15th, 2006 at 10:19 pm

dont be a fag and talk shit just because you beat argentina while they are having a bad run …. i didnt see you talking shit when brazil didnt get to the finals you dip shit . And then you go on blogs saying that you dont talk shit.

By kn | October 16th, 2006 at 2:26 pm

Hey, we weren’t crapholes when you guys beat our seleccion Ecuador. What’s up with your comment, huh? You guys got lucky and won. So don’t piss us off.

By jackie | October 22nd, 2006 at 9:40 am

hi.
I were at the game 10/10 brazil vs ecuador.,, I´m wondering if somebody knows the name of the portuges newspapers who were there and took picturs outside on fans before the game…if somebody knows please mail me.
jaklin_makeupartist@hotmail.com

Posted from Sweden

By Soze | October 25th, 2006 at 9:48 am

Euler, you missed the spotlight huh?…Nice write up. It’s sad to see ‘the king’ fall so quickly both on the international stage as well as at Barcelona but I am glad to see that Pele’s opinion of Robinho is coming true. The boy has really come into his own since the world cup.

How have you been?..Have a good summer?

By Euler | October 26th, 2006 at 5:28 am

Hi Soze! Not much the spotlight that I missed, but to give Brazil representation in this Blog.

Ronaldinho’s suffering is a direct reflection of his poor performance at the WC. I think it is very important that Dunga find new players that are still hunting their chances on the international stage. Brazil is a big talent farm and we must not depend on Adriano, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos anymore. I still hope Ronaldinho put all these troubles behind and do a nice comeback at 2010. If not, we will have other guys to do the job, as you know.

We are just coming out of winter here in Rio, but we had very few cold days, unfortunately. But it was nice. Not that hot either. Many night biking events.

Thank you for checking the blog! I really missed these conversations!

Posted from Brazil

By al | October 26th, 2006 at 6:29 pm

fernie, it’s ok to like second-best argentina we understand you gordito

Posted from United States

By chico | November 11th, 2006 at 2:50 pm

ME know all south american teams suck. Brazil lose to french adn stink bad. Argentina has ugly players that resemble rats. Em thinks only 1 south american team should qualify for World cup since they all embarass themselves and their people. ME have poop on leg that smells like Brazil chicks.

Posted from Canada

By Kevin | November 12th, 2006 at 3:38 pm

yea euler onli 2 goals bitch Stop tlkn madd shit bout Ecuador sayin we lost to macedonia n japan o wow those games were freindlys. you kno japan woul’ve beat u if it wasn’t for the tie brazil was holdin back cuz they knew they were gon lose. BRAZIL SUCKS NOW n i don’t consider ronaldinho better than maradona or pele i don’t even think he’s the world’s best player he onli plays good in barcelona. Argentina is way better than ya’ll niggaz u guys are all fakes ur the only team dat make up shit like joga bonito no other team is cocky like u n u guys get lucky in every single game! stop writin blogs bout brazil cuz brazil sucks… U SHOULD RATHER go eat a girl out n get Gharnoera or H.I.V.

Posted from United States

By Euler | November 15th, 2006 at 2:24 pm

Violence is not the answer for your frustrations, Kevin. Thanks for visiting the Brazil Blog.

By Kevin | November 16th, 2006 at 9:58 pm

hey euler fuck you

Posted from United States

By Josimars | November 26th, 2006 at 2:29 pm

Dunga is doing a good job so far. I will never forget Parreira for sticking to the old guard like Cafu, Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo these are the 3 guys that cause Brazil to be so ineffective. I have watched the match against France at least 3 times and I can say it is the worst I have seen Brazil play. I have never seen them play worse. Also why is it that the wing backs are so ineffective. Remnember my namesake Josimar why is it that Brazil cannot produced wingbacks of that calibre again. Marcelo looks promising so we just have to wait and see

By conceicao | December 5th, 2006 at 9:15 pm

Josimar is one of my all-time favorites also.
Robinho reminds me a little bit of both Josimar
and Jairzinho and I thought coming in to
Germany that a good coach could have found
a way, with the personnel he had and given the attention a lot of the other players drew, to
free up Robinho in space to do some damage
like Jair in ‘70 and Josimar in ‘78. Failing to
sub in Robinho at half against France and then
making Adriano the first sub still confounds me.
Robinho for Juninho and Cicinho for Cafu
seemed the obvious subs to me at half and
nothing that I have seen or heard seen has
changed my mind. Cafu was just having a really bad day.

Posted from United States

By Gautam | December 8th, 2006 at 1:17 pm

Ronaldinho Gaucho the much maligned is coming back to his top form both in La
Liga and the Champions League. His cheeky daisy cutter free kick goal
and assist with Bremen at Nou Camp
shows he is back into prime fitness.
He had a long lay off, too much soccer before WC06. He is sure to be back in the Brazil team. I hope in 2010 will be Ronaldinhos world cup.
He has too much talent to be overlooked.

I was also impressed with the young Diego in the W. Bremen match. He has a lot of talent. Marcelo is sure to ake it to the position of Roberto Carlos and Blumer Elano looks set to take the place of Ze Roberto.

Posted from India

By sam | December 11th, 2006 at 12:43 pm

i think dunga is doing fine im big big fan of brazil but i still think he should bring back big Ronaldo or atleast give him a chance cos he’s been scoring goals for real madrid in the champions league and hopefully he can do it agen for brazil lyk the 2002 and 98′ of the days and still ronaldhino will have to be bak with the bicycle agenst villareal and the cheeky goal against w.bremen n diego should be there and KAKA! defintly he’s the only thing keepin acmillan alive at the moment and marcelo has impressed me to

Posted from United Kingdom

By Stefan | December 18th, 2006 at 12:20 pm

Brazil will need Ronaldo!

Posted from Spain

By Josimars | December 18th, 2006 at 12:30 pm

Dunga has said that he is not impressed by ronaldinho because he doesn’t play for the rest of the team. I have just watched the match between Barcelona and Internacional and you can see that Dunga has a point. Abel Braga the Inter coach just did not give ronie much space and ronie was clueless what to do. I have always said that a great player is todays football has to be effective even when he doesn’t have the ball and thats where Ronaldinho falls short.Zidane was the epitome of a great footballer. He tackles he set up his teamates and he scores. Ronaldinho can only set up his teamates and score but the doesn’t tackle and thats why Dunga has benched him in favor of Elano.
Cafu was not having a bad day against france he is finihed he is too old. I have been saying that for years. Ac Milan should have sent him into retirement at least 2 years ago. Also Josimar played in 86 and not 78 as indcated by Concecio

By conceicao | December 20th, 2006 at 1:18 am

My apologies to both Josimar and Josimars for
typing in the wrong date for Josimar’s big
World Cup - I must be going senile like Cafu,
who I still contend played miserably against France over and above any problems he may have been having due to age. He played far worse right back than Ze Carlos did against Holland in the ‘98 semi and Ze Carlos is probably the worst player Brasil has ever put on the field in a World Cup knock out game. I have always thought that
Leonardo was played injured in the ‘98 final due
to team politics but I doubt the same thing was going on here. Maybe he was Ronaldo’s roommate and was sleep-walking through the
game like Roberto Carlos did in the ‘98 final.

Posted from United States

By Josimars | December 23rd, 2006 at 9:02 am

Okay Conceicao I see you have made the corrections however you didn’t have to apologize. Anyway as you can see I am extremely annoyed how Brazil lost the World Cup. If they had played well and lost I would have said fine but they did not do anything and perhaps all the players are to blame but the main culprits are Cafu, Roberto Carlos and to a lesser extent Ronaldo. Roberto made a mistake against france by not picking up Thierry Henry but every body makes mistakes and if you see any Real Madrid matches recently you can see that he is still playing well. Cafu on the other just should not be there. I had a bet against a friend that Brazil will not win the World Cup with Cafu present and I prayed to be wrong but oh I was so right. I have watched all the players over the years leading up the world cup and I knew from about 3 years ago that Cafu was finished. I saw a match between PSV Eindhoven and AC Milan about 2-3 years ago and Jefferson Farfan of PSV just creamed Cafu. I have seen other players ran past him like he wasn’t there.You could see that he could not recover any more after he got beaten. He just did not have the legs anymore. Parreira was to conservative and did not want to take chances with the younger players like Cicinho and Maicon but everytime he did Brazil won the tournament Copa America with Maicon and the Confederation cup with Cicinho. The coaches of the other teams saw that it was a weakness and attacked Brazil down the flanks and Cafu just could not handle it. I guarantee you that had Big Phil been in charge that would not have happened. Dunga is going to do well because he has the Scolari philosophy which is if you are not playing well you won’t be on the team Period.

Posted from United States

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Posted from United States

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Posted from Brazil

By Dan | March 28th, 2007 at 3:15 am

HI Folks, Its has been awhile - Hi Euler - I”ll get in touch soon. Since the world cup, I purchased Dish tv so I could watch globo and follow the Brazilian national team. I can’t understand the broadcast but I can follow the matches - since I live in the states this is a first. I also have Fox soccer channel and gol tv - and the internet. I am anxious to watch the copa america.
As for the aftermath since the France game, for me the game vs argentina showed some great spunk. The best goal I have seen in a while was Kaka’s 70 plus yard run to score goal # 3. Amazing run - tremendous goal. #2 moment was Robinho scissors kick almost goal vs Chile and today vs Ghana the corner looked like that was a play that they had practiced - kick it short, head it to the back and then clean up. Wagner Love is very athletic and to me is very dynamic. I liked what I have seen of Daniel Alves. I think they are getting there act together and if the fates are kind - the talent will be there and they will be in good shape in 2010.
My dream is to attend the 2014 cup (I’ll be 54 then) and see the final with Brazil in it in rio in 2014 - Lord willing. In the meantime, I’ll follow as much as I can, watch every match the selection plays and wait for 2010 - maybe it will be in the states if SA has problems.
I be back after the next match…
Greetings from San Diego…Dan

Posted from United States

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