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.