He will be forgiven, ahead of the friendly against England at Wembley this weekend, for being a little speechless about the state of Brazil’s national team.
Of course, there are some familiar names. Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, Raphinha and Richarlison are all vying for the starting spots. Old decorator Danilo is still wandering around. The midfielder has a strong flavour of the Premier League: Lucas Paquetá’s backline is joined by Bruno Guimaraes, Douglas Luiz, Andreas Pereira and Joao Gomes.
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Beyond that core, however, things get more than a little confusing. There are 11 non-international players in the squad. Seven others have fewer than five caps. It’s as much about who’s who in Brazilian football as it is about “who’s it?””.
That’s far from ideal, especially since this year’s Copa America is just three months away. Mothrough Dick’s long list of injuries in Brazil will likely have been reduced by the time games begin in the United States in June, but preparation time is lacking. the five-match matches (they face Spain in Madrid on Tuesday) will be the moment for a definitive tune-up; Rather, they look a bit like an open trial.
The sense of substitution is accentuated by the fact that they also have a new coach.
The idea, the glorious and the terrible, of Brazil preparing for the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti at this stage. He intended to arrive on the eve of the 2024 Copa America and bring a supreme touch of soft and uplifting magic to a team that was already on its feet. thanks to interim coach Fernando Diniz.
As it happens, Ancelotti left Brazil sobbing at the altar and Diniz completely missed his audition. After 3 consecutive defeats, the Seleçao languishes in sixth place in the South American World Cup qualifying organization, after six matches, Venezuela. It was a fledgling task in position, anything to build on, but it’s all fresh air and tumbleweed.
The one who is about to solve the challenge is Dorival Junior, a 61-year-old man who in the past led the. . . well, almost everyone in Brazil, adding up to 8 of the 12 most sensible clubs in the country. to come out of their ears; This is his 26th training position.
It’s not about belittling him. Brazilian football is so chaotic that even the most productive coaches are doomed to have resumes. The fact is, Dorival is rarely an education prodigy, nor is he an offline taxi. You’re on the other end of the spectrum, right?in the category “you served your time, you earned your chance. “
Dorival, another important midfielder in his playing days, joined the club in 2002. They first gained national notoriety in 2009 when they knocked Vasco da Gama out of the second division; a year later, his team Santos – with a young Neymar – won the Sao Paulo state championship and the Brazilian Cup, betting interesting things in the process.
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For a moment, it seemed like his pinnacle. In 2022, however, his third stint at Flamengo culminated in a historic victory in the Copa Libertadores, the South American equivalent of the Champions League. )Then, last year, he took the reins of a long-suffering Sao Paulo FC and guided them to their first Copa do Brasil title. It was the momentum created in those two jobs that led him to run for the position in Brazil.
Unlike Diniz, Dorival is not a tactical fundamentalist. He has a tendency to favour fast-moving and attacking football, but he is not tied to a quick formation. His team Santos played in a 4-2-3-1 formation; At Flamengo, he favored a diamond-shaped midfield and two forwards. It is flexible rather than didactic.
“I can never think of a preconceived system,” he said at his first news conference in Brazil. “I’d rather figure out what I have and then the tactics. “
In the context of Brazilian football, this is probably a practical approach. Radical philosophies are difficult to implement when the guillotine is only one or two defeats away. Dorival is also known for his ability to smooth things over and bring a team together. It’s a discreet sign of authority, based more on conciliation than ego.
As such, it’s hard to track down a player who has anything bad to say about him.
There’s an instructive scene after Sao Paulo’s Brazilian Cup win over Flamengo last year. While Dorival was fulfilling his post-match media duties, a parade of Flamengo players, his former protégés, set out to stop him and greet him. I don’t praise likability, but it’s helpful to have it in your toolbox.
Taken together, those characteristics have earned Dorival a reputation as a firefighter, the one you call when flames start tickling your toes. While the Libertadores titles and the 3 Brazilian Cups are his notable achievements, many paintings have also been done on the back of the Brazilian table. He is well-versed in rescue operations.
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At this point, you can probably understand why Brazil turned to it and why this measure was also so popular. Two months after his appointment, there is broad consensus that Dorival is the ideal person for the task, an achievement in itself given the divisions of Diniz’s government. “A wonderful choice,” said the former Brazil captain Cafu. “He’s deserved it for a long time,” said Muricy Ramalho, one of the biggest names in Brazilian football.
Leonardo Miranda, who writes about tactics on the online website GloboEsporte, shares this view but also has a caveat. “I’ve been a big fan (of Dorival),” he told The Athletic. “I think he deserves to have taken office. (Immediately) when Tite left office after the World Cup (2022), but I wonder if he will be able to oversee a long-term project. “
That comes later. The immediate task is to get Brazil back in good shape ahead of the Copa America.
In that opening press conference, Dorival touched on most of the same old themes: betting like Brazil (a complex challenge at the best of times), getting enthusiasts to fall in love with the national team forever, but there was also recognition. You have to get to work.
“What we don’t have is time,” he said. We want to speed up the process. It’s like being a club manager: we want effects yesterday, not tomorrow. “
The scratch team he will manage at Wembley (Saturday) is, of course, complicating things. Calculating the pace of his first game abroad would be quite intimidating with Alisson, Marquinhos, Casemiro and Neymar by his side; Another thing is when the feature films come with Rafael, Fabricio Bruno, Pablo Maia and Pepe.
The good news for Dorival is that the Seleçao’s fragile scenario does not go unnoticed by those who remain in the country. No one expects to be impressed by what Brazil produces, whether against England and Spain this week or in the World Cup. América. La hope, for once, is modest: that the firefighter can do what he does.
(Top photo: Fabio Teixeira/Anadolu Getty Images)