A sudden change in tactics may have finally been showing real signs of progress but it ended in disaster as the Selecao's shock Copa America exit cost him his job on Tuesday.
Brazil’s first Copa America first-round exit since 1987 has cost Brazil coach Dunga his job, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) confirmed on Tuesday.
A staunch pragmatist whose ruthless counterattacking approach brought with it Copa America and Confederations Cup glory for the Selecao between 2006-10, Dunga had returned after the 7-1 World Cup semifinal defeat to Germany in 2014. His appointment was almost an instinctive defense mechanism by the CBF to ensure that sort of humiliation would never happen again.
He instantly led Brazil to 10 consecutive Brasil Global Tour friendly victories, conceding just two goals in the process, but a quarterfinal exit to Paraguay at last year’s Copa America and a tricky start to World Cup qualifying left him feeling the pressure this month.
Dunga took his side into the Copa America Centenario with one eye firmly on August’s Rio Olympics, with no less than six of 23-man squad of ‘Olympic age’ and talk of blooding a new generation that would join Neymar in the quest for Brazil’s first gold medal.
He lost six players in just two weeks prior to the big Copa America kickoff, and was already without Neymar who was forbidden to compete in back-to-back international tournaments by his club, Barcelona.
Brazil had yet to find a replacement for its dependence on the captain, who had scored a quarter of the goals in the two years under Dunga despite missing a quarter of the matches because of suspensions.
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