Rodrigo Possebon

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.

Just like the rest of the nations that will be participating in the 2014 World Cup, Brazil has a few friendly matches scheduled to take place a few days before the start of the worldwide tournament.

Felipe Scolari revealed that he might not play with all of his key players during these friendly encounters and he will solely rely on what the medical staff of the nation announces as the Brazilian coach does not want to risk anything.
“For this first match we will follow what the medical department tells us. The group will be evaluated again over the weekend and then we will know who will be fit. We don’t want to risk anything before the World Cup.” Scolari revealed to the media.

The young Brazilian playmaker from Chelsea, Oscar is completing the last stages of his recovery after he sustained a muscle injury and is likely to be sidelined during Brazil’s friendly encounter against Panama.

Brazil is going to be the hosts of the next World Cup and Felipe Scolari is confident that his team can be crowned as the champions in their homeland and that he neither his players feel any kind of pressure.

“There is no pressure on Brazil. Brazil is not under pressure to be the world champions. Brazil will be the champion. I wouldn’t have accepted the Brazil job if I didn’t think we could win the World Cup. I wouldn’t be leading the team I’d be sitting at home. I took this job because I’m 100 per cent convinced that I will win the World Cup with Brazil.” Scolari admitted.

Scolari has already lifted the World Cup trophy with Brazil in 2002 and he is positive that it’s going to happen again.

When David Moyes was asked if he has the best attacking trio in the Premier League he replied:

“I think they will be when we get them ready and totally match fit all of them and gelled together. We need to give Juan Mata time to settle in and not get too far ahead of ourselves too quickly. The one good thing is that because he has Premier League experience and being in the league and being at a big club, coming here should be a little easier.

“But we still have to be mindful that there is a change and we have to give him time for that to happen.”

Stoke City secured their 1st league victory over United on Saturday evening with Charlie Adam leading the way for his team. This accomplishment was something that Stoke City was unable to do since 1984.

As the pressure continues building up for David Moyes, some fans and critics are stating that the performance made by the players of Manchester United was disastrous even with the Spanish midfielder Juan Mata trying to make his presence felt on the 2nd match that he wears the jersey of the ‘’Red Devils’’.

According to David Moyes however, the Scottish tactician believes that the players did everything they could to win and it just all down to bad luck.

“I thought the performance was really good. I thought we played well,” Moyes told reporters. “We had bad luck, we really did. It was our own downfall that we didn’t score our chances. We must have got to the byline eight, nine, 10 times but we never pulled the ball back or never picked someone out in the box so it’s our own undoing.

“I thought we were the better team. They get a goal, we get back in it, I thought we were the team more likely. We only have ourselves to blame. The amount of opportunities we had today we should’ve won the game out of sight. It was a good performance; we just couldn’t take those chances.

If the ‘’bad luck’’ continues on being the source to blame for Moyes, his job will certainly be in jeopardy soon enough.

The manager of the Brazil national football team, Luiz Felipe Scolari, was at San Siro the other day to watch the Serie A game between the two local rivals Inter Milan and AC Milan and he was quite disappointed with what he saw there.

One of his main players Kaka was featuring for AC Milan and he had gone there expecting a quality performance from him. But, that didn’t happen. Kaka was not anywhere close to his best in the game and that left Scolari gutted.

The outcome of the match went in the favour of Inter Milan. They won by 1-0 and moved up to no. 5 in the Serie A points table.

On the other hand, for AC Milan, it was their 6th defeat in the league and they have now drifted down to the 13th position in the table. They have got just 19 points in 17 matches.

However, Scolari’s disappointment didn’t have anything to do with AC Milan’s performance. He was there for the Brazilian players and it’s their performance which was going to matter for him.

Talking to the reporters at the end of the game, the Brazil boss said, “I had come here to watch the performance of my players and I think they played alright.”

“As far as Kaka is concerned, I had expected a better performance from him. I wouldn’t say he performed badly, but, his game was not up to that level.”

When asked about the chances of Kaka being selected in the Brazilian squad for the upcoming World Cup finals, Scolari said, “I can’t say anything right now. There is still plenty of time left for the World Cup to start.”
Brazil will play its first match in the World Cup finals against Croatia on 12th of June.