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World Cup 2010 Comment: Brazil coach Dunga needs to put a velvet glove over his iron fist
Coach's pragmatism needs panache...
14 Jun 2010 12:12:00
By Peter Staunton
In our World Cup Comment series, individual writers at Goal.com offer their views on the hot World Cup topics of the day with local expertise and a global outlook...
Brazil take on DPR Korea this Tuesday and it is the South Americans, and not the Koreans, who are attempting to keep things under wraps. The five-time winners confront a nation which is renowned for the clandestine nature of its affair,s and Brazil coach Dunga is taking a leaf from his opponents' book ahead of the World Cup opener.
He has tried his damnedest to maintain a veil of secrecy over his squad, closing training sessions off from the public and only lifting the covers when obligated to do so by FIFA.
It is a stark contrast to four years ago when the Seleccao conducted their business in full view of fans and media in sessions that more closely resembled rock concerts than drilling exercises in Berlin's Olympic Stadium. It is also in stark contrast to the North Koreans, who have been happy to train alongside the masses at a public gym in Johannesburg.
But Dunga has his ways and he is sticking resolutely to them.
His methods have curried little favour at home throughout his tenure, despite apparent success; it is still seen as lamentable that the likes of Ronaldinho and Neymar have been left off the roster in favour of industrious players in the mould of Ramires and Felipe Melo even though qualification was a breeze and the Conferations Cup trinket was accrued.
The former defensive midfielder has ingrained a European-style robustness to a once shimmering 'dream team' with set-pieces, at both ends, a key attribute. And that has not gone down well with everyone.
The 1970 World Cup winning captain Carlos Alberto has thrown in his two cents. He told The Observer on Sunday, "The coach has chosen this way to play, and the results are very good, but let's see what's going to happen. If you look behind [the results] you see that most of our goals start from dead balls. Free-kicks or corner kicks. This is why I say it's not Brazilian football."
To that end there is an added onus on Dunga to deliver. Brazil are expected to show up with their traditional style and panache as well as substance; critics and fans at home, as well as neutrals, demand aesthetically pleasing football along with results. An iron fist within a velvet glove.
Admittedly, there is only so much excitement that Gilberto and Lucio can generate, but with Robinho and Kaka in the starting XI, a sparkle is still a necessity. If their coach is going to a World Cup after turning the excitement factor down a notch or two, then he better win the thing.
The dress rehearsal win at the Confederations Cup and the win away at Argentina went some way towards thawing relations between the trainer and his critics but there is more work to be done. Dunga needs deep progress to justify his transformation of Brazil from purveyors of 'joga bonito' to the international equivalent of Inter Milan.
Brazil are one of two favourites for the World Cup; the other being Spain. It will not be lost on observers that Spain's bluerpint conforms closely to that of Barcelona. When the irresistible force met the immovable object in the Champions League this season it was Inter who had their day. Dunga now needs similar.
Can Brazil go all the way? Check out Castrol Football's 2010 World Cup Success Predictor.
No trip to South Africa is complete without a visit to its most beautiful and sunniest city. Durban offers much more than sandy beaches, safaris, casinos and the World Cup, for information on what to do and see, please click here.
Become a fan of Goal.com UK's Facebook fan page for all the latest news and insight into everything related to the beautiful game!
Brazil take on DPR Korea this Tuesday and it is the South Americans, and not the Koreans, who are attempting to keep things under wraps. The five-time winners confront a nation which is renowned for the clandestine nature of its affair,s and Brazil coach Dunga is taking a leaf from his opponents' book ahead of the World Cup opener.
| Bet: | Returns: | Brazil £15.71 | Draw £36.00 | Mexico £52.50 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Brazil £16.70 | Draw £34.00 | Mexico £60.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Brazil £16.15 | Draw £38.00 | Mexico £55.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Brazil £15.70 | Draw £38.00 | Mexico £60.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Brazil £15.50 | Draw £35.50 | Mexico £56.50 |
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He has tried his damnedest to maintain a veil of secrecy over his squad, closing training sessions off from the public and only lifting the covers when obligated to do so by FIFA.
It is a stark contrast to four years ago when the Seleccao conducted their business in full view of fans and media in sessions that more closely resembled rock concerts than drilling exercises in Berlin's Olympic Stadium. It is also in stark contrast to the North Koreans, who have been happy to train alongside the masses at a public gym in Johannesburg.
But Dunga has his ways and he is sticking resolutely to them.
His methods have curried little favour at home throughout his tenure, despite apparent success; it is still seen as lamentable that the likes of Ronaldinho and Neymar have been left off the roster in favour of industrious players in the mould of Ramires and Felipe Melo even though qualification was a breeze and the Conferations Cup trinket was accrued.
Silk & steel | Dunga gets Robinho working
The former defensive midfielder has ingrained a European-style robustness to a once shimmering 'dream team' with set-pieces, at both ends, a key attribute. And that has not gone down well with everyone.
The 1970 World Cup winning captain Carlos Alberto has thrown in his two cents. He told The Observer on Sunday, "The coach has chosen this way to play, and the results are very good, but let's see what's going to happen. If you look behind [the results] you see that most of our goals start from dead balls. Free-kicks or corner kicks. This is why I say it's not Brazilian football."
To that end there is an added onus on Dunga to deliver. Brazil are expected to show up with their traditional style and panache as well as substance; critics and fans at home, as well as neutrals, demand aesthetically pleasing football along with results. An iron fist within a velvet glove.
Admittedly, there is only so much excitement that Gilberto and Lucio can generate, but with Robinho and Kaka in the starting XI, a sparkle is still a necessity. If their coach is going to a World Cup after turning the excitement factor down a notch or two, then he better win the thing.
The dress rehearsal win at the Confederations Cup and the win away at Argentina went some way towards thawing relations between the trainer and his critics but there is more work to be done. Dunga needs deep progress to justify his transformation of Brazil from purveyors of 'joga bonito' to the international equivalent of Inter Milan.
Brazil are one of two favourites for the World Cup; the other being Spain. It will not be lost on observers that Spain's bluerpint conforms closely to that of Barcelona. When the irresistible force met the immovable object in the Champions League this season it was Inter who had their day. Dunga now needs similar.
Can Brazil go all the way? Check out Castrol Football's 2010 World Cup Success Predictor.
No trip to South Africa is complete without a visit to its most beautiful and sunniest city. Durban offers much more than sandy beaches, safaris, casinos and the World Cup, for information on what to do and see, please click here.
Become a fan of Goal.com UK's Facebook fan page for all the latest news and insight into everything related to the beautiful game!
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Live!
England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 4-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.
Hosted by Joe Doyle
Hosted by Joe Doyle
19:54 BST
We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
19:32 BST
We're getting plenty of people saying it was boring. PLENTY. But Spain scored seven goals in eight games at the World Cup and I didn't hear too many of their fans complaining. Or as Fran Stinchcombe points out on Twitter: "If we had lost but played free flowing attacking football would these people still have moaned?"
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