Dunga's Brazil puts winning football ahead of beautiful game

13 November 2009 20:35
There was also a tension within Brazilian football on Friday with the country's coach, Dunga, reacting with fiery indignation, and a customary chippiness, to suggestions from Manchester City that he had erred in insisting Robinho was called up for international duty and that, having reported, he should return to England to fully recover from the stress fracture to his ankle. [LNB]"We are the five times World Cup winners and they cannot just come to our hotel and take him away," Dunga said of City. "The history of the Brazilian national team needs to be respected. There is a hierarchy that needs to be respected."[LNB] Related ArticlesEngland's World Cup camp?John Terry a doubt for Brazil clashLampard faces three-week lay-off1990: England 1 Brazil 0Sport on televisionThe Robinho row will blow over it is fundamentally more to do with City and the £32.5 million striker even if there is an undercurrent of a suggestion that the Brazilians intrinsically distrust the medical treatment their players receive in England but there is a longer-running dispute about the degree of respect that a coach such as Dunga has shown the country's style of football. [LNB]The phrase often used is "jogo bonito" and a quote Dunga once gave during his playing days, declaring it was "dead" has often been used to attack him. [LNB]But then Dunga was the attack dog, the enforcer and midfield fighter who led Brazil to World Cup glory, lifting the trophy as captain in 1994, after an absence of 24 years. [LNB]Except Brazil were not glorious. Coached by Carlos Alberto Parreira, they strung four, dour ball-winning players across midfield and strangled the opposition, eventually winning the final on penalties against a shell-shocked Italy. [LNB]Parreira returned in 2006, to be once more accused of killing the "jogo bonito", the beautiful game, and replied with an angry response that such a label was not only a mistranslation but a myth. [LNB]The "jogo bonito", he said, was fundamentally about winning and it was a mantra taken up with notable effect yesterday by the jewel of Brazil football, Kaka. "The most important thing is to win," he said. [LNB] "The best thing is to win. Afterwards, we have to try and make a good event and a show for everybody. But the first option is to win the game."[LNB]Hours later, following Brazil's final training session before they face England this evening in a friendly here in Doha, Dunga himself repeated the answer, almost word for word. How, also, would be like to be remembered? "Being a winner," he said. "First victory and then a good way of playing."[LNB]Fabio Capello would have nodded in approval. Indeed earlier in the day, the England manager had spoken of how he felt Dunga, who spent four seasons at Fiorentina, from 1988-92, had learnt the "pragmatism of the Italians" in his football philosophy. [LNB]Saturday's meeting is therefore effectively a contest between two Italian coaches although Dunga also played in Germany, for Stuttgart. [LNB]Dunga's team are primarily built on a pragmatism solid defence with two, robust holding midfielders in front to offer a shield but there is something else. It has meant a resurrection for the career of Gilberto Silva with the 33-year-old midfielder, discarded by Arsenal for being too slow and negative for their rapid football, winning an 84th cap today. [LNB]Typically Dunga has been protective of his protector, even rounding on Arsenal for being 'timeco' effectively a "rubbish team" for getting rid of him. [LNB]And so when Gilberto is asked about the strength of the Brazilian team he does not talk about skill, flair, technique but "unity" and the "desire to win". [LNB]But Capello, for one, believes there is more. "People thought he was not like a Brazilian manager when he started," he said of Dunga, claiming that he has reinjected "big imagination" back into his team and Brazil can still be an exciting, attacking team, especially as they swiftly counter their opposition. [LNB]They are a lethal counter-attacking outfit and Kaka, the Real Madrid midfielder, is their rapier. [LNB]There is flare, also, and gradually Dunga has indulged more flamboyancy after having successfully drilled his team. It is a potent mixture and what that can be an awesome sight. But it is not quite the "jogo bonito" and may be all the more dangerous because of that. [LNB]

Source: Telegraph