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In spite of missing Marcelo at the left back position in last month’s World Cup qualifying matches, Dunga reckons the non-selection of the Real Madrid player was absolutely right as he was not responsible enough to convey to the team management that he was fit and could be selected.

As per Dunga, the contact numbers of the coaches and doctors who are associated with the national team are available to the players and thus, they should remain in contact with them and should be updating them about what the condition of their body is and if they are willing to appear in the country’s next game or not.

If somebody is not conveying anything to anyone, not providing any updates, then it comes down to his commitment and you have to question that because if there had been any keenness on his part as far as playing for Brazil is concerned, he would have looked to reach out to doctors and make sure the coach is aware of his condition when he is selecting the team.

The other Brazilian players, whose fitness was in question, had been regularly telling the team’s medical staff about their improvement. Anyone who would be committed enough would show such willingness and that was clearly not done by Marcelo.

Dunga says he makes the squad selection based on information that he is given and on that occasion, he was not given any information regarding Marcelo simply because nobody had any information about him. So, whose fault in this? It’s of the player’s definitely.

Brazil had similar results, that is two draws, in the two matches Marcelo was absent from and it is not possible for them now to achieve top 4 finish in the CONMEBOL standings.

Brazil national team manager Dunga is of the opinion that superstar Neymar should consider playing at the Olympics for his country.

There have been suggestions that Neymar would be left out of the Olympics team in order to a him some recuperation. The forward has been playing non-stop football for the last few years. There are concerns about burnout, but Dunga says that the Olympics taking place in Brazil is a huge incentive for Neymar to take part and potentially win gold. Even though he had moved to European football only recently, the 24-year-old has already won a lot of honours.

However, the possibility of winning gold at the Olympics is not something that comes to everyone. Neymar had a chance to get his team to World Cup glory and he failed to do so after being injured for the latter stages. He should be doing this rather than heading off on a Croatia Yacht Charter. For this reason, Dunga says that Neymar should not try and duck from Olympic selections. Even though Olympic football tournaments only include players under the age of 23, Neymar can be included as part of the three overage players in a squad. Dunga claims that he would personally prefer seeing Neymar represent the country in the Olympics rather than in the Copa America.

“If I have to choose between Copa America and the Olympics, I prefer to see him [Neymar] in the Olympics.It’s hard to choose, but I think, given the importance of trying to win the only medal that Brazil does not have, the fact that we are playing at home. We need to talk to Barcelona, the team, Neymar, to see what is best for all three,” said Dunga. The best ever finish for Brazil with Neymar in the team was back in 2012 when they were the runners up to Mexico. Dunga will now fly to Spain in order to talk with Neymar.

The captain of PSG, Thiago Silva has not been featured in a single match for his national side since June of 2015 when he performed against Paraguay in the quarter finals of the Copa America of that same year. Thiago Silva has easily been one of the best players of the French League so far, who has made a huge impact and helped PSG immensely in their early dominance of Ligue 1.

PSG is dominating the French League after having secured a total of 51 points from their opening 19 matches, the 2nd place is Monaco which has only secured 32 points in that same amount of games which have been played.

From those 19 opening games of the season, PSG has only conceded 9 goals and Thiago Silva plays a key role in this rock-solid defence of his club.

Even with the sublime performances that Thiago Silva has been displaying with PSG, it still hasnt been enough for him to secure a spot in his national team. Ever since Dunga was appointed as the head coach of Brazil, Silva’s role in Brazil has diminished significantly as the defender was stripped away from his captaincy role in the national team and now he isnt even able to get called up.

When Dunga was asked about the current situation involving Thiago Silva and the possibility of seeing him making a return to the national side, the Brazilian coach replied by saying : “Thiago is a player who we are watching,” Dunga told Fox Sports.

“We have formed a mixed squad of youth and experience. Right now we are thinking about qualifying and about the World Cup itself. But it’s not effective when the press officer has to call me all the time about things being put in the newspaper – that won’t work. I don’t bow to pressure. But Thiago has a chance to return.”
Thiago Silva probably is one of the most in form defenders in the world right now and he truly deserves to be called up by Dunga.

Thiago Silva is for sure disappointed to be overlooked by Dunga for the upcoming Brazil games, but, he is motivated to fight and regain his spot.

Thiago has seen a gradual downfall in his international career in the recent past.

He wore the armband for the men in yellow in World Cup last year, but, failed to lead from the front in the tournament.
One of the things which he had been criticized for the most was him withdrawing himself from taking a shot during the shootouts in the pre quarter final versus Chile.

Not only was he the captain of the side, he was one of the experienced men in the group and even if he was nervous, he needed to get over it and do the job for his team.

Brazil won that shootout though thanks to Neymar, but, what Thiago did was certainly something that a leader should not have done.

The 30-year old was then shown the red card the next game and he had to miss the semi final versus Germany along with Neymar who was out because of injury.

Germany smacked Brazil 1-7 which left the home fans in tears and saw Luis Felipe Scolari losing his job to Dunga who came back for his second stint at helm for the Selecao.

Dunga straightaway put Thiago under the pump by appointing Neymar the captain of the side and now, 7-8 months down the road, he’s got the centre back omitted as well.

Although, there are a lot of people who don’t agree with this decision of Dunga, but, he has his reasons to do so.

Thiago might have been a brilliant player for Brazil for a decent period of time, but, his recent form at the international level has been shaky and with him not getting any younger, there is no harm in having a look at a new face in the heart of defence.

When Thiago himself was asked about it, he had this to say, “It’s obviously tough when you feel you don’t deserve to be left out, I am motivated to fight through it and get myself back in there playing for Brazil.”

It’s been a very long time since Brazil has held a significantly important piece of silverware. The Brazilian national side has struggled trying to snatch back the World Cup which they last lifted in 2002 and in recent years they have been sustaining disappointing results.

When Brazil was given the privilege to host the 2014 World Cup, Brazilians were excited to see their country taking center stage in what is considered to be the biggest football competition and they had every right on doing so as they had the chance to display what they are capable of doing in their home turf but things fell apart after Germany destroyed the Brazilian side with a final scoreboard of 1-7 during the semi-finals.

1 year later and things haven’t been improving for the Brazilian national side; actually the contrary has been occurring. Brazil failed to make it past the quarter-finals of the 2015 Copa America after losing against Paraguay in a penalty session but there was something else which occurred in this tournament which placed Brazil in the spotlight but for the wrong reasons.

During a group match involving Brazil and Colombia, Neymar received a straight red card as he was seen visibly frustrated and was embroiled in a physical altercation with Colombia’s Jeison Murillo and Carlos Bacca. This led to Neymar not only receiving a red card but also receiving a 4 international game ban.

Brazil ultimately lost their match against Colombia with final scoreboard displaying 0-1 in favor of the Colombian team but despite this loss, it was the disappointing image that Brazil left behind that was remembered by everyone as Neymar wore the captaincy armband and to represent a nation in such a disappointing way is not the thing that the national side needs to see in order to bounce back from the underwhelming results they had recently been going through.

Dunga is one of the figures of the Brazilian national side where the blame is being placed upon but this shouldn’t be a blame game of who deserves to be removed from the team, it’s something that simply has to be resolved for Brazil to start rolling back the years and become one of the titans of football as they used to be.

Brazil have recently been in stupendous form after winning their recent friendly matches in spectacular style.

However, the upcoming friendly match against Chile at the Emirates stadium will be the perfect barometer of the team’s progress – since the humiliating World Cup 2014 – according to manager Dunga.

Despite recording a number of former stars like Kaka and Robinho, the former captain has primarily concentrated on tweaking the tactics of the team. This match will be an important part of the preparations for the upcoming Coppa America, which will take place in the summer.

Even though the tournament will be taking place in Chile, Brazil will be hoping to be victorious since it is the only possible way to eliminate the bad memories of the World Cup. Both teams are expected to have a number of European-based players in the team. For Chile, Alexis Sanchez will be playing at Emirates stadium where he has been in spectacular form. The Chilean has scored 18 goals in 36 matches for Arsenal this season. For Brazil, it is all going to be about Neymar while the likes of Oscar can also spring a surprise. Brazil have won all of the friendly matches since the World Cup while Chile have been showing inconsistent form.

“The year of 2015 will be very important for us, when we will play the Copa America and the qualifiers for the World Cup will also get started.Playing against Chile will be one more opportunity for the Brazilian National Team to get ready for the next challenges of this year.Brazil vs Chile is always a good game and I am sure that all fans will see a great show in London,” said Dunga.“I’m so excited and honoured to be playing for the national team of Chile, against our great rivals Brazil, in front of the incredible Arsenal fans at Emirates Stadium,” said Alexis Sanchez.

Dunga, the Brazil national Football team boss, has made it clear that there is no rift between his players on the issue of captaincy as being suggested by the media of late.

The first thing that Dunga had done after taking over as the Selecao manager was to change the captain. He had replaced Thiago Silva with the star striker Neymar.

It did not go that well with Silva which was obvious as he had done a good job leading the side in the World Cup.
Moreover, Silva also said that he was not even informed about being relieved from the captaincy.

But, last night during the game versus Austria, when Neymar left the field, he gave his captain’s band to Silva.

According to Dunga, Silva is always one of the leaders in this group with the experience that he has. It little matters whether he is the one wearing the armband or not. He has to guide the players in any case as he is one of the seniors around.

Speaking after the Austria game, Dunga said, “I believe in doing things in organised way. The press might try to portray this situation as some sort of controversy, but, let me assure you it’s not like that at all. The boys are pretty happy.”

“It is the responsibility of every senior player to try and guide the juniors around, no matter who has that captain’s band on his arm.”

The game versus Austria was Siva’s first appearance for Brazil after the World Cup. He had been nursing his thigh injury in the last few months.

The centre-half did not start in that Austria game though. It’s Miranda who was in the starting XI. Silva was brought in late in the second half.

Dunga, the Brazil boss, has made it clear that he is a believer of continuity in the squad and that’s why, he is not going to chop and change the players too much.

In the Brazilian squad that Dunga has announced for the forthcoming games against Argentina and Japan, there are just a couple of new players. The rest are the same who had featured versus Ecuador and Colombia a couple of weeks ago.
According to Dunga, if a team has to win regularly, it must have consistent core.

Talking to the reporters yesterday, Dunga said, “Core is very important especially when you consider the fact that the international sides play very few matches per month. If you make too many changes, the guys would never gel with each other and there would always be problems in coordination and all.”

“At this level, potential alone is not everything. Your concentration and your attitude play a major part.”

Dunga also tried to press the point that it’s necessary for all the eleven players on the pitch to try and contribute, otherwise, the pressure on match winners like Neymar increases.

In the words of the Selecao head, “Each and every guy in the squad should carry the responsibility. It’s never good to be dependent on a particular guy all the time, no matter how special he is. It has been the case with us before. We have been dependent on players like Pele, but, players like that also need assistance. You’ve got to make the play for them.”

Neymar was the only Brazil player who seemed to be playing world class football versus Ecuador and Colombia. His one goal and one assist helped Brazil win both those games, both by the margin of 1-0.

Dunga, the Brazil boss, has made it clear that he is a believer of continuity in the squad and that’s why, he is not going to chop and change the players too much.

In the Brazilian squad that Dunga has announced for the forthcoming games against Argentina and Japan, there are just a couple of new players. The rest are the same who had featured versus Ecuador and Colombia a couple of weeks ago.
According to Dunga, if a team has to win regularly, it must have consistent core.

Talking to the reporters yesterday, Dunga said, “Core is very important especially when you consider the fact that the international sides play very few matches per month. If you make too many changes, the guys would never gel with each other and there would always be problems in coordination and all.”

“At this level, potential alone is not everything. Your concentration and your attitude play a major part.”

Dunga also tried to press the point that it’s necessary for all the eleven players on the pitch to try and contribute, otherwise, the pressure on match winners like Neymar increases.

In the words of the Selecao head, “Each and every guy in the squad should carry the responsibility. It’s never good to be dependent on a particular guy all the time, no matter how special he is. It has been the case with us before. We have been dependent on players like Pele, but, players like that also need assistance. You’ve got to make the play for them.”

Neymar was the only Brazil player who seemed to be playing world class football versus Ecuador and Colombia. His one goal and one assist helped Brazil win both those games, both by the margin of 1-0.

Dunga is all set to take over the post of Brazil boss from Luiz Felipe Scolari.

There has not been any official announcement of the appointment yet, but, the information coming from the sources suggest that the deal between the confederation and Dunga is done and at some point of time next week, the official announcement would be made.

Dunga has been the manager of Brazil before. He was given the responsibility for the first time in 2006 and he had worked till 2010. He had not done badly in charge at all as the team had won more than 65% matches played under him.
But, after the loss that Brazil suffered in the Round of 8 in the World Cup in South Africa, Dunga left his position.

If Dunga gets appointed for his second stint, there would be a big challenge ahead of him. He would be expected to oversee the transition period of the Brazilian team smoothly. He had done something similar to that during his first tenure as well though.

Dunga is one of those coaches who don’t mind making controversial selections. He doesn’t select a certain player in the team only because of his reputation. He is a bold man and he does what he thinks is correct for the team.
The 50-year Old has also skippered Brazil at the World Cup level. It’s him under whom the men in yellow had become the World Champions in 1994.

Earlier, it was Adenor Leonardo Bacchi who was the favourite to be Scolari’s replacement. Many people in the Brazilian confederation were supposed to be impressed with his work as Corinthians boss and thus, wanted him to be appointed, but, now, it seems that Dunga has left him behind in the race.