Can Dunga fulfill our expectations?

Now it’s official! Carlos Dunga will be the new coach of Brazil. Since I started following the Selecao, I have hardly seen them to reappoint failed cases as for Brazil, a failed World Cup mission is always considered as the biggest failures of all no matter how successful a coach has been before the World Cup. And in that sense, Dunga’s – who failed to fulfill the expectations in 2010 – reappoint as the coach of Brazil is a bit surprising for me.

Dunga was first appointed as Brazil's coach in 2006 and during that time he had no experience about coaching international teams. But despite being least experienced as a coach, Dunga's record had had been brilliant. In total he took charge of 60 matches, winning 42, drawing 12 and losing just 6 matches. But during the World Cup, his team was not clicking the way they should have and against Holland the wheels came out of Dunga’s car and he was sent packing.

Personally, I am not at all happy with this appoint, but rather than getting frustrated and rue over this appoint, we need to be positive.

Yes, Dunga did diminish the Brazilian flair during his tenure as the coach, but he brought enough application in the team. One thing he did and which was, he brushed away Brazil’s dependency over just one player. He made Brazil to play as a unit rather than relying too much on just one star performer. Even without Kaka, Ronaldinho and Lucio, Dunga’s men conquered the Copa America tournament in 2007 by defeating a star studded Argentine side 3-0 in the finals.

During his regime, Brazil had more active flying full-backs who used to cut through the opposition’s flanks with ease. Dunga’s Brazil had a more compact midfield which could earn the ball easily when they used to lose possessions – a thing which was heavily absent in the Brazilian side during this year's World Cup.

Moreover, Dunga was not blessed with enough resources during his previous regime. He didn't have a quality striker to replace Luis Fabiano nor did he have the quality replacements in midfield. With a very limited resource he and his men fared very well. This time around Dunga will be blessed with enough resources and it will be easier for him to organize his team better than before. 

Even though Dunga's picture as a coach had been a pretty defensive one, but his team did play attacking football, though not on a regular basis. Don't forget how Brazil were amazingly offensive against Argentina in the finals of Copa America in 2007 and USA in the finals of Confederations Cup in 2009. And also in some of the international friendlies his team did exhibit fair amount of offensive football.

Carlos Dunga’s Brazil would be more focused on results rather than sheer joy and entertainment. We will not find any ‘Jogo Bonito’ which, I believe, should return to Brazil, but this Brazilian side would be a bunch of disciplined robots whose mission would be to reach the pinnacle of glory by playing the European brand of football. Let the critics shout but Dunga won’t deter from his plans.

Yes, Carlos Dunga will not trigger excitement and CBF is not focused on entertainments, but they are more focused on application, graft and results and of course the World Cup 2018. 

Dunga’s reappointment will not be hugely celebrated. The expectations will be very low and you know what, when the expectations are not sky high, the best of results just come to trigger celebrations. In that sense, Dunga might just be the right man. 

Thank You

Faisal Caesar