Over the last few months, the Brazilian press has been unforgiving in its incessant assault on Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri, more commonly known as Dunga, the national coach and the captain of the Brazilian World Cup Champion team of 1994.
The torment and hounding of Dunga is completely irrational and rooted in a complete misunderstanding of the evolution of the game.
Football has changed significantly over the last decades as evidenced in the physiological characteristics of the players.
Today’s players are taller, faster, stronger, and more powerful than their predecessors. They have an overall higher physiological capacity and thus the ability to cover more ground in less time.
The dimensions of the pitch have not changed to compensate for the physiological changes. Consequently, the field has become congested.
It offers less space for stars like Diego Maradona or Zinedine Zidane to leave their mark as they did in past years.
The rules of the game have not evolved alongside these physiological changes. FIFA has been slow to adapt.
Teams play a very physical, regimented, defense-oriented game, relying heavily on tactical schemes and formations.
At times it can be hard to watch the excessive defensive nature of games in a pitch that has become increasingly congested.
No rules have been passed to create more space or open up the pitch. When a player is sent off with a red card, the game completely changes. Suddenly, space is brought back to the game.
Players are able to use their innate talent and ability to really demonstrate their skills.
One idea that FIFA could easily adopt is to punish teams for committing a certain number of fouls by sending a player off the pitch for an extended period of time.
The problem is not Dunga and the style of football he implements with the national team.
He is placing a team on the field with the most suitable technical and tactical characteristics to compete head-to-head in a cutthroat environment.
Why should he play the vulnerable TV-friendly offensive game when no other team plays that way? Inter Milan did not win the European Cup with mesmerizing offensive football.
The Italians who won the last World Cup in 2006 employed a pragmatic result-oriented defensive game.
As the steward of the national side, Dunga won every title he competed for in his brief stint as a coach.
Brazil came in first place in South America during the qualifying rounds of the World Cup; beat Argentina in Rosario for the first time in more than a decade in the qualifying rounds; won the Confederations Cup in South Africa last year when they beat the United States in the final; and won the South American Cup in 2007.
Living in Football Past
The Brazilian press lives with the memory of the 1970 and 1982 World Cup teams that mesmerized the world.
These squads stormed the field with a flamboyant, unorthodox, overly offensive style of football. They have left their mark.
One should not forget, however, that in 1982 when Brazil lost to Italy, the press crucified Brazilian coach Tele Santana for playing a high-risk offensive game when only a draw was required to advance in the competition.
By that year, the game had become much more tactical, with teams relying heavily on formations. Santana assembled arguably the most gifted players ever seen on any national side.
His team was unorthodox, disorganized, and extremely volatile when playing defense.
Even though they put on a good show, they later succumbed to the Italian team that was more organized defensively, cautious and aggressive while still lethal in the counter-attack.
On that fateful night at Sarria stadium Paolo Rossi placed the final nail in the coffin of Santana’s Brazil when Italy advanced on a score of 3 to 2.
It took two more World Cup losses in 1986 and 1990 for Brazil to take note of the changes that had stormed world football.
The game had been driven in a more disciplined, tactically oriented and defensive direction. It became more physical, with more emphasis given to defensive tactical schemes and relying heavily on lethal counter-attacks.
That the rules did not change in significant ways contributed to this new style of playing.
It would be difficult for a team playing a highly vulnerable offensive game that placed little emphasis on defense to succeed in this newly tactical environment.
Changing Brazilian Football
The first man to notice these dramatic changes was Carlos Alberto Parreira. The man is in a class of his own, where he is known for his refined mannerisms and highly analytical way of looking at the game.
He brought a completely different approach and style of play, one more in line with international trends, to the national side.
In 1994, he put together the most tactically sound and organized Brazilian national team to ever participate in a World Cup.
The team relied heavily on formations and tactics with a level of fierce defensive perfection that until that year was alien to Brazilian football.
For his extraordinary vision, wisdom and accomplishments he did not get much sympathy from a press that systematically, unjustly and shamefully crucified him for a style of soccer they considered “too European”.
Despite this, his team would win the Cup, ending a 24-year drought for Brazil.
Following the World Cup win in 1994, all Brazilian teams have adapted to the International trend. Today, they rely to a great extent on team formation, defensive prowess and proven tactics.
In 2002, once again under Luiz Felipe Scolari, Brazil won an unprecedented 5th title playing very aggressive and technically coherent football.
It is important to note that Dunga had no previous coaching experience before taking charge of the national team.
Dunga, a square jawed, intense man with a fierce look, is built along the lines of an American football coach: a steady, hardworking, but personality-free drill sergeant whose primary focus is to ingrain a collective, selfless, egoless mentality within the spirit of the team.
As a player, he was a fearless central defensive midfielder, captain of the 1994 World Cup team, known for his aggressiveness and incessant defensive skills. He was a “wall” in front of the Brazilian defense. He is a hardened man with an imposing presence in the locker room.
He was raised on the southern tip of Brazil. That region is known for its European heritage, which influenced him significantly. The club teams from the southern tip are known for their disciplined style of football placing much emphasis on tactics and formations.
Every sport evolves with time: technically, tactically and physically. Simultaneously, the rules of any sport should be revised to accommodate these changes. The Brazilian teams of 1970 and 1982 would not have a chance to win in a soccer world grown increasingly aggressive and highly physical. It makes no sense to think that the current national team can play like those previous squads. That would be like expecting Mike Tyson to fight like Rocky Marciano or Usain Bolt to run the 100 meters like Jesse Owens.
It is time the Brazilian press let go of the past and understands that the game can become more offensive and exciting to watch only when FIFA takes action but that it will never fully return to the way it once was played. Leave Dunga alone!
Ricardo Guerra is an Exercise Physiologist and Strength and Conditioning Coach. He has a Masters of Science in Sports Physiology from the Liverpool John Moores University. He has worked with several clubs and teams in the Middle East and Europe, including the Egyptian and Qatari national teams.
