When Dunga was chosen as the successor for Felipe Scolari after a very poor World Cup, many eyebrows were raised at this decision largely because Dunga is a manager who favours pragmatic football more than attacking football.
The football style of the former World Cup winning captain was heavily criticised before he was replaced by Mano Menezes. Dunga has worked extremely hard in order to overcome this reputation when he took over after the World Cup. Since he had especially come in at a difficult time for Brazilian football, Dunga says that the pressure was extreme as well.
Since his return, the 51-year-old has managed to 6 straight victories in which Brazil have scored several goals. Neymar has been at the forefront of everything good done by the national team, but these results have been viewed with scepticism since they have been just friendly matches. The first competitive match for the new coach will not come until the summer when his Brazil team take on the South American opposition at the Copa America. Chile will be the destination for this tournament and they will be the favourites. Brazil have been preparing for this tournament with friendly matches against the likes of France in the next few months.
“I understood that it would be very difficult. It was complicated to recover after what happened at the World Cup.The players had to meet us and see that I am not as bad as they may have thought,” said Dunga. Brazil have been grouped alongside Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela. Colombia will be providing their biggest threat to their passage to the next round as group winners. They open the tournament with a match against Peru followed by a mammoth clash against Colombia. They ended the group stages with Venezuela being the opposition.