Brazil World Cup Team Profile

Good profile. Not all Brasil fans dislike Dunga. Some (including me) applaud how he’s taken what was an overly glitzy, me-first team in Germany to a team that values chemistry and teamwork above all else. Granted we may not have some of the fireworks of years past, but really, Brasil hasn’t been an all-out attacking team since 1982. As you say, if we win the Cup then Dunga will go down as a legend. If we don’t, well…you know.

It’s a good thing Brasil was put in the toughest group, IMO. We tend to play down to the level of competition sometimes, like those losses you mentioned, so having to play Cote d’Ivoire and Portugal right off the bat (with the threat of Spain looming if we don’t finish in the top spot) should ensure the entire team comes to play from the start.

Fantastic post, like Black Matt said not all of us dislike Dunga. I for one is a huge fan of his because, although he’s not providing the all out attacking football we’d love to see one thing we can’t take away from the man is that the simple fact that he wins. Under him we’ve competed in 3 major competitions (Copa America, Olympics, & Confederations Cup) and have won 2 of them, Brazil will be the team to beat in South America and quiet frankly won’t be beat the record shattering 6th World Cup will be lifted. Força Brazil.

Though Kaka has flopped terribly at Real in his first season he will be pivitol for his country this summer and lead A Seleçao to the title, hopefully Pellegrini takes note so that the fans and Spain can see who the real Kaká is and what he’s all about.

The 2010 version of Brazil boasts some B-list players since most of the best brazilian players (Ronaldinho, Ganso, Neymar, Diego, Marcelo) very likely won’t be on the Dunga list.

Coach: The creep Dunga. As a player, he lucked out to win World Cup in 1994. If it wasn’t for Romario’s genius, that creep Brazil 1994 team wouldn’t have gone nowhere. Actually, it didn’t went nowhere. Winning like that is like losing. Brazil played boring defensive football and couldn’t score against Italy in the final. If Baggio hadn’t missed his penalty kick, that creepy Brazil team would have been forgotten by now.

As head coach Dunga had an tremendous ammount of luck to win the Copa America. Brazil was playing the worst football in ages and nearly didn’t make through the semis against Uruguai. In the final, against the much better Argentina, Brazil lucked out with an early goal and then won with counter-attacking.

The win in Confederations Cup was also based on luck. Brazil barely made past the USA, which is absurd in itself. Brazil should run past teams like USA for 5 or 6 goals but Dunga’s team could never really do that. And, of course, Brazil didn’t have to face Spain.

Yes, Dunga finished top of South American qualifying. Who cares about that?

Pretty bad for the first coaching job. Specially because the team hasn’t played convincing football in 4 years.

Dunga is not popular as Brazil coach because the team plays boring deffensive football. It is OK to do that if you are Bolivia or Italy. But when you have a Ferrari (Brazilian players) in your hands, you need to put the pedal to the metal. You need to go full force. You need to use the inteliggence to make magic players like Ronaldinho play for his team and vice-versa. But Dunga can’t do that. And when you don’t do it, you are wasting your team’s potential.

It’s not about samba and stepovers. Nobody wants that. This is a creepy cliché. It is about fast attacking football like Barcelona does. Like Santos is doing in Brazil right now. Like Telê’s Santana São Paulo did in the 90’s. Dunga is not capable of doing that and he doesn’t even try. That is his biggest mistake.

Dunga’s approach is fooling everybody because of his wins. But those were Pirro’s wins. Because the team wasn’t playing well at all.

And YES, you CAN argue with a team that keeps winning. Because if it wins like Dunga’s team is winning, so the chances are it is going to lose and it is gonna be bad.

Dude you can say all you want but Dunga is winning and that’s what fans like me crave right now. Brazil have beaten Italy the world champions very handily twice within the last two years, if you want to talk about Uraguay we’ve beaten them at home for the first time in about 40 yrs 4-0 under Dunga. USA was handled really easily 3-0 in the group stages of the confed cup in the final we got a little too comfortable and payed for it but still the team fought back with a spirit deserving of champions I’m sure if an attacking minded coach like Tele was in charge we wouldn’t have finished first in Comebol won the Confederations Cup or even made second place in the Olympic games. If his style translates into a 6th title in the South Africa i could give a danm about attacking football. One can only have so much luck man to pin all this teams achievements under the guy as luck shows just how close minded you are! (rant over)

I think player selections are Dunga’s problem with a lot of people. I agree with Samuel, as long as Dunga brings the hexa home I can live with the style.

I just think the selections the past couple of months put the team in a position where they are an injury away from being completely screwed. Julio Baptista?? To show how much confidence Roma has in him, last weekend against Sampdoria they had to score a goal to stay in the Scudetto race. Who didn’t even see the pitch as an attacking option?

What if Luis Fabiano goes down? Do you really think crazy Adriano is going to be a solid replacement?

The solutions are staring Dunga in the face and i think this will be his last chance to succomb to them. I have a feeling Ronaldinho will be called up in place of Baptista and Hulk could be given Adriano’s place as well.

I have faith in him to choose the right players for this tournament since he has no other choice but to win!

Brazil will have the strongest backline in South Africa, Maicon, Juan, Lucio, Bastos with the likes of Dani Alves, Thiago Silva as options off the bench> (Ridiculous)

In midfield you have Kaká suffering in Madrid right now but always a threat to defences in Dunga’s Brazil leading vicious counters and assisting Fabiano and Robinho when we go foward. Felipe Melo & Gilberto Silva provide the defensive balance we’ve become known for while Elano or Ramires play as extra attacking outlets when going fowards & defend when we lose possesion. Ronaldinho if taken should be able to fill in for Kaka whenever possible if need be.

For the attack we are full of options, i for one would love to see Dunga call up Pato, Hulk added to the already guaranteed duo of Robinho , Fabiano as those two can fill in for the fowards fairly well as they have similar styles.

Brazil will have 4 players to watch in South Africa, Robinho, Kaka, Fabiano & Lucio should all have a huge impact so look out for them.

I am expecting them to meet the Netherlands in quarter finals, I don’t know how could win that match, probably the next champion.

I am afraid of the Dutch, so talented and dangerous when in form. For heavens sake I’d hope we win but both teams are so good. Let’s just say I hope we don’t have to meet them.

Dunga knows and remembers what happends to Brazil when they play the jugo bonito…they lose. Brazil learned from 1982 that having the greatest team in the world is no guarantee. Zico, Falcao, Socrates, Cerezo, Eder what can i say…the anti football Italians and Argentinians changed football forever…How, Tactically defend and counter attack! Brazil learned that having the best players and the best team is what the world wants to see BUT what Brazilians want is to win. I would love to see that Ronaldinho from 2004-05 but that same man did nothing in teh 2006 worldcup. since 1982 i had not seen a team so good man to man even better than 1982 for they at least had a good goal keeper…1982 was horrible. I like Dunga’s attitude if you are a Brazilian that wants to celebrate in July…if you want to jugo bonito from Brazil…you may have to see Italy, Argentina or Germany celebrate!!! PS: nobodu remembers who played beautiful…they only remenmber the champ!!!

>>PS: nobodu remembers who played beautiful…they only remenmber the champ!!!

That’s wrong, in fact, it’s the opposite that’s true. Everybody remembers the 1982 brazilian team, whereas only patriotic italians remembers the italian champs.

Noone bothers to compile a video of the italian matches from 1982, but recently I saw a great video of the 11 best goals from 1982 braziian side. Magnificent!!

My problem with Dunga is that there’s very little creativity in his team. L. Fabiano’s spent nearly the entire season out injured and now he’s injured his ankle so close to the world cup. Who can replace him? Hulk? Grafite? Pato? Adriano? Ronaldo (whose refusal to lose weight is absolutely maddening)? Nilmar? It’s not like we have any truly world class strikers anymore (which in itself is a damning indictment), tho we do have a couple of very good youngsters who’ve never been to a world cup.

Dunga relies so much on Kaka to bring us creativity in midfield, what if he’s injured? I know Diego’s problems but he really should go to S. Africa to provide back-up, he’s a talented creative player (poorly used by Juve, as is Melo). He’s also quite enjoyable to watch.

As for all the calls for the likes of Neymar – look, he looks great but the kid’s young and inexperienced, never played outside Brazil. I can see why Dunga may prefer to rely on experience.

I’m somewhere in the middle between Luciano and Dunga’s supporters. I accept the fact that we can no longer play like the great 1982-86 team of Tele Santana. Those days are gone. Football has moved on and we have to move with it. I like Dunga’s emphasis on team cohesion and discipline, his refusal to bow down to star power and popular demand (the biggest failing of the 2006 team). I like seeing good, hard-working little known players like Elano in the team. Elano doesn’t set the world alight but he’s got a fantastic attitude, scores some good goals and helps to create some good ones too.

However, MUST my beloved national team be so totally dominated by players who look like they belong on the basketball pitch or the boxing ring? Whose only skill seems their brawn? Must there be NO room for spontaneous creativity, risk, even art once in awhile? I don’t even ask that we be as wonderful as Spain to watch — just more fun to watch than we are now.

I highly doubt Dunga instructs his players not to be spontaneous or creative – just to make sure they accomplish the fundamentals first.

I’ll agree that this edition of the Selecao doesn’t have the talent of previous editions, and a lot of the most talented players, like Diego, like (possibly) Pato and Ronaldhino are being left off. But Dunga’s not leaving them off for stylistic reasons, he’s leaving them off because they HAVE NOT PERFORMED. Ronaldhino has been crap for the national team since 2006 and he’s had many chances since then. Diego and Pato bombed the Olympics, and neither have really looked very good for this team at any point. Ronaldo admits himself that he isn’t fit for selection at this point. Guys like Neymar and Ganso aren’t ready yet. So he selects players with less talent, but more production, players that work well with their teammates. And that’s why we’re winning. And that’s why I think we will continue to win. That, and, as Samuel says, he have unbelievable backline players in Lucio, Juan, Thiago Silva, Maicon, Dani Alves and Julio Cesar. And world class players in Kaka, Robinho (who despite his club problems usually plays well in the yellow shirt) and Luis Fabiano.

LUCIANO’s logic is the stupidest I’ve ever heard. One can be lucky once, twice, thrice, but for 3 years? Seriously? And if a team keeps winning but isn’t the prettiest to watch, the odds are that it’s going to lose badly? Are you actually listening to yourself?

It’s not like Brazil even plays ugly football. Granted, Spain and the Netherlands play more free-flowing but Brazil’s probably still third in the world in this regard. And Spain and Holland, for all their flare, still have weaknesses that can be exploited.

“And Spain and Holland, for all their flare, still have weaknesses that can be exploited.” — so do we.

I agree that Luciano’s logic makes no sense — Dunga’s been “lucky” THREE times for three years. That’s some run of luck!

Of course the current Brazil team has some brilliant players – Dani Alves, Kaka, J. Cesar, Maicon, Lucio, these are all fantastic players, I’m a huge fan esp. of Maicon and Lucio.

“It’s not like Brazil even plays ugly football.” — can’t agree there. This Brazil team has quite often played ugly, uninspiring football. By no stretch of the imagination are we “third” in playing free-flowing, attractive football. They can play some exciting moments of attacking football but there is NO way this Brazil team can be called in any way “attractive” or “fun to watch.”

As for Pato and Diego…I don’t think they were given much of a chance on the NT. Yes, they bombed in the Olympics but they weren’t the only ones who failed in that team – and Dunga hasn’t kept out the entire Olympic team that failed.

“It’s not like Brazil even plays ugly football.” — can’t agree there. This Brazil team has quite often played ugly, uninspiring football. By no stretch of the imagination are we “third” in playing free-flowing, attractive football. They can play some exciting moments of attacking football but there is NO way this Brazil team can be called in any way “attractive” or “fun to watch.”

i disagree because we’ve blown by the likes of England and Italy so easily under this man and it was always fun to watch. You have got to like the movement this team does off the ball now none of this was happening under Parreira, they just booted the ball to the stars Ronaldinho, Kaka, Ronaldo and Adriano winning on the days they produced and having no answer or plan B when they didn’t it was shameful. On this new look Brazil it’s different every player is fundamental and works his ass off for the team there are no prima dona’s standing there waiting for others to pick up their slack, It is a collective effort!!! that’s one reason why Ronaldinho has been repeatably snubbed. when the games are tight it is a different story but most likely when Dunga’s Brazil play they usually go out there with the will to win, just look at the attitude in the Confederations Cup final. We will win this World Cup i am confident.

Pato should be on the team no doubt, he’s been fantastic for Milan since arriving there and has improved every year. if he plays the last two games in Serie A and looks good i have reason to believe he’ll make the cut.

For Diego things are definately more bleak. Juventus have flopped terribly and he has too for the most part when he wears the yellow shirt, but he is the Brazilian player most similiar to Kaka at the moment. I just don’t see him fitting into Dunga’s system.

Sandrahn – Who besides Spain and Holland play attractive football then? Argentina? Nope. Germany, England, Italy? No way. None of the traditional powers anyway. I enjoy watching Brazil play and like their counterattacking style. Are some games ugly? Of course. But all in all I still think they play good football. They are just lovely to watch on the counterattack.

Pato and Diego were given more chances than just the Olympics, but they never convinced. Pato’s time will be in 2014 anyway. And as for not booting off everyone who played for the Olympic team, actually, he pretty much has. Marcelo was in the Confederations Cup but hasn’t been really seen since. Lucas, Anderson, none of them are like to be in South Africa and have not played in quite some time. The rest of that team were names like Jo and Rafinha and Rafael and none of them have played for the Selecao since. Granted that team was mostly second stringers but the fact remains.

Its the guys that saw time in the Confederations Cup that are going to get the call-ups, for the most part.

I myself would choose Pato if it were up to me, but I understand why Dunga wouldn’t. It’s less likely now that he’s coming off of injury and hasn’t really played.

I’m pretty sure this will be Dunga’s final list.

Cesar, Doni, Gomez

Maicon, Bastos, Lucio, Thiago Silva, Juan, Gilberto, Luisao, Dani Alves.

Kakà, Ronaldinho, Melo, Gilberto Silva, Elano, Ramires, Josue, Kleberson

Robinho, Fabiano, Nilmar, Adriano.

Who thinks other wise. Yes, I believe Carlos Dunga will actually call up Ronaldinho!

***

Playing strong, creative, attacking football with fantastic players like Ronaldinho, Ganso and Neymar backed by hard working players (that can not only destroy but also create) and make sure that all 11 players have team cohesion, discipline and work theirs asses off is the best way to win.

It is not about “jogo bonito” or any of that creepy 2006 team disgusting style. And it is not about artistic football or malabaristics or tricks or Nike commercials. It is about playing strong creative attacking football and playing WELL – like Barcelona does, like Santos does.

Brazil is one of the few teams in the world that can do that.

Brazil, Argentina, Holland, Spain and a few others.

The other teams can’t do that because they don’t have enough creative midfield and attack players. So they must be able to come up with other styles of football (mostly defensive styles) is order to win.

Dunga’s team is not able to play good strong creative attacking football because Dunga is a bad coach. He can only make Brazil play bad deffensive football. Dunga victories in these last 4 years are not important. The important thing is to have a team that can play well. Because playing well is the best chance you have to win the WC.

Brazil has some ridiculous amount of talented players that are being dispised by Dunga. To leave Ronaldinho, Neymar and Ganso out of the team is a crime against football. It is like leaving Zico, Romario and Zidane out of the WC. If Dunga can not make these players play good football, than HE is a BAD COACH.

It is simple as that.

Give those players to some great coach like Guus Hiddink, Mourinho, Guardiola, Capello, Telê Santana, Luxemburgo, Dorival Júnior… and those guys would FLY on the field.

Dunga is not doing Brazil’s best, he is going for a “safe” option and that is pretty coward way to play.

The Dunga’s way is to destroy and then throw the ball to the attack. Then he depends on some spark of brilliance from Luís Fabiano, Robinho and Kaka to score (just like creepy Parreira 1994 team depended on Romario brilliance to win).

It is just depressing that people just “accept” and “assume” that Brazil can’t play strong, creative attacking football. Barcelona does that! Santos is doing that! Brazilian coaches have been saying this (”Football has moved on and we have to move with it”) for years and now we have Santos playing strong, creative attacking football. And Santos has only 3 great A-class players (Ganso, Neymar and Robinho).

If you build a SELEÇÃO BRASILEIRA with 11 A-class players and make team play strong, creative attacking football you have an unbeatable team!

Of course Dunga is right about working to have team cohesion and discipline, but there is more to it than that! You can have team cohesion and discipline in a team that plays strong, creative attacking football!

Ronaldinho and Diego have not performed well because Dunga failed to make the team work for them –and vice-versa! He builds his team around Elano and Lucio and not around Ronaldinho. That is his biggest failure. You have to build your team around your best players **and make these players work for the team** and not the other way around. You can’t build a team around Lucio and Elano and make Ronaldinho and Robinho work for them!

The Brazilian coach needs to use the best players and make all of them work their ass off for the team. If Dunga was a good coach, he would make that.

But Dunga can only make B-list players work for the team, because he has no capacity or knowledge on how to do that, he is weak.

A great coach would never have a problem like that.

Brazil is not one of the favourites to win the World Cup.

Despite having finished top of the group in South American qualifying and winning Confederations Cup last year, Dunga’s team can not be called Seleção Brasileira. Because it does not have the best brazilian players. The four best in-form brazilian players at the moment are Ronaldinho, Paulo Henrique Ganso, Neymar and Julio Cesar, and only the latter is likely to be on Dunga’s team.

So what do you get when the top in-form players from your country are not in the team? You have a bad coach. His name is Dunga. The world will get to know him better very soon.

So here is the lowdown from a Brazilian who does NOT get fooled by Dunga’s results:

Goalkeepers – who is likely going

1- Júlio César is the one.
2- Gomes can replace him.
3- Doni is a tragedy. He is not even playing for his club (Roma). If Julio Cesar gets hurt and Doni gets into the team, Brazil is gonna be in big, big trouble.

Goalkeepers – who should go

1 – Júlio César.
2 – Gomes.
3 – NOT Doni. ANYONE BUT Doni. From Rogerio Ceni and Marcos (both veterans) to young and in-form goal keepers like Victor and Bruno, there are many options.

Right-backs – who is going

1 – Maicon
2 – Daniel Alves

Right-backs – who should go

1 – Maicon
2 – Daniel Alves

(This is a rare case when the best players have been actually chosen by Dunga.)

Central defenders – who is going

1 – Lúcio – he is good, but he is getting old and slow. He can’t be fooled by fast attacking football. Don’t get fooled. Lúcio is NOT one of the key reasons why Internazionale reached the Champions League final. Inter managed to do that because it played with 10 men on the deffense field against Barcelona. It is easy to be a good defender when you have 8 other defenders to help you, including Eto and Milito. Wow, playing like that even I can be a good defender.
2 – Juan – he is good, but he got injured a lot in the last four years. His phisical condition needs to be checked.
3 – Luisão – he is bad. Very slow, very clumsy. He did NOT managed to overcome criticism and doubts from the Brazilian public to establish himself in the national team. He is there because Dunga likes him and that is all there is to it.
4 – Thiago Silva – young and learning. He does not have the ability or the experience to be the “titular”, but it is nice to have him on the squad because he will very likely be one of Brazil’s main defender in 2014.

Central defenders – who should go

1 – Lúcio
2 – Juan
3 – Thiago Silva
4 – Durval – He plays for Santos. Santos is the best Brazilian team of the last 10 or 20 years. Enough said.

Left-backs – who is going

1 – Michel Bastos – OK.
2 – Gilberto – old and boring. He was on fire in 2006 but Parreira chose the old Roberto Carlos instead. Now Gilberto is past his prime and he is not even playing as a left-back anymore.

Left-backs – who should go

1 – Marcelo – he is playing at high level in Real Madrid.
2 – Maxwell – he is playing at high level in Barcelona.
3 – Léo – he is playing at high level in Santos

Defensive midfielders – who is going
(THIS IS WHERE THE DUNGA TRAGEDY BEGINS)

1 – Gilberto Silva – he was good. But that was in 2002. That was 8 years ago. He is way way past his prime. He used to play in Arsenal and now he plays somewhere in Greece. I can’t even spell his name’s correctly. He is slow, he can’t destroy effectively and he REALLY can’t create anything nor give vertical passes. Dunga’s tragedy begins here.
2 – Felipe Melo – he is strong. and violent. he can destroy stuff. and that is just about it. Good enough if you are Italy and like Gatuso-type players. Good enough for Dunga’s team. Not good enough for Brazil. If you wanna be in Seleção Brasileira then you must be better than that. Way better. Very likely to get some red cards on the WC.
3 – Josué – a virtual nobody. How can this guy be here?
4 – Kléberson – he was good. Like 200 years ago. Now he is not even playing for Flamengo. Sometimes he doesn’t even get to be on the bench! Now on the last game against Corinthians, he was chosen and lucked out. So…

Defensive midfielders – who should go

1 – Ramirez – He is fast, he is smart, he runs a lot, he can give vertical passes, he can also destroy too. When he gets ball possession, he has a lot of creativity and ability to connect defense to attack. An A-list player, wrongly overlooked by Dunga.
2 – Arouca – He is flying in Santos. I mean, flying above all the rest. Like, ridiculously above all the rest. He knows how to destroy, of course. And he can play also, something that Gilberto Silva, Felipe Melo, Josué and Kleberson actually can not. Like play really well, connect defense to attack, give vertical passes and all that.
3 – Hernanes – He is smart, dedicated and obstinated. He is a man on a mission. He was so pissed off after losing the Olympics that he will give his blood to win the WC.
4 – Tiago Motta – He is young, strong and he is doing good in Internazional de Milano. He is not brilliant but, you know, he is like the fourth option here. And he played for Barcelona. You gotta love a guy who played for Barcelona.

Attacking midfielders – who is going
(THIS IS WHERE DUNGA’S TRAGEDY GAINS MOMENTUM)

Kaká – is regarded as the star of the team. Yes, he can lead a good counter-attack or two. Yes, he can give a good pass or two. Yes, he is good enough for a bench-warmer. Not for the first team. Specially because he prefers to run, to score and to play for himself, not for the team. Yes, he is selfish.
Elano – B-list player. Tries much too hard.
Júlio Baptista – B-list player. Yes, same as above.
Ramires – should be used as deffensive midfielder.

Attacking midfielders – who should go

1 – Paulo Henrique Ganso – the best midfielder to come up in Brazil for the last 10 years. Or 20 years. Or since Sócrates. He can protect the ball like Riquelme, he can pass like Ronaldinho, he can drive defenders crazy with “calcanhar” passes like Sócrates, he can control the ball like Zidane. He is that good. Don’t worry. You will hear about him.
2 – Ronaldinho – he is the best brazilian player of the last 20 years. He is back in shape and he is dying to give verticall killer assistances in the WC. Nobody does that better than him. I mean, nobody. OK, maybe Xavi is just as good as Ronaldinho today, but that is it.
3 – Kaka. Could be a great benchwarmer.
4 – Marquinhos or Marlos – Marquinhos is an older guy who is playing classic brazilian attacking football in Santos. Vertical passes, great view and all. Should be tested. Marlos is a rising star. Needs to mature, but can be a very good fourth option.
Strikers

Attackers – who is going
(LAST CHAPTER OF DUNGA’S TRAGEDY)

1 – Luís Fabiano – he is good, very good finisher, very strong.
2 – Robinho – he is playing like a kid again in Santos. But he needs his santos team-mates to create magic.
3 – Adriano – he is a pathetic choice. You have read about what he did. Yes, booze. Yes, missing TWELVE days in his club in the first 120 days of the year. Yes, he is that bad.
4 – Nilmar – He can play well but he is too fragile.

Attackers – who should go

1 – Neymar. He is a wonderkid. he is different. he can pass, he can move and he can score like a matador. AND he is flying in Santos. I mean, it is ridiculous how good this kid is RIGHT NOW. Better than all four guys above will ever be.
2 – Robinho. He can make a KILLER attack with Neymar by his side.
3 – André. He plays with Robinho and Neymar in Santos. They score a lot of goals. Enough said.
4 – A tie betweem Luis Fabiano and Nilmar.

I like the team of brasil and i believe that there will take this world cup 2010.