Parcells, Shula, Landry... some coaches get instant last name recognition. But in Brazil, where everybody's on a first name basis, the coach of the Brazilian Football Confederation national team is Dunga. In English that means "Dopey" (one of the Dwarfs from the Disney classic Snow White) and that's what everybody calls him, even president Lula. And Dunga calls the president by his nickname, which means "the squid," because he has lots of ways to reach out.
Imagine what Parcells might do if Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams called him out in the locker room with "Hey Dopey." He'd probably grab a suitcase and throw it just like he did in a famous TV ad a few years back.
But Dunga, known officially as Carlos Bledorn Verri, is the people's choice and a player's coach -- and he's taking a selection of 23 of Brazil's best to the World Cup in South Africa in June. Currently, however, 19 of them play for clubs outside Brazil. And while Dunga says "everybody gets a chance," fans and the media are starting to grumble about whether his selection of high paid international superstars is the right mix to win the most coveted award in sports.
Adriano, the linebacker-sized attacker who tore up the Italian league while at Inter Milan (and was reprimanded by Dunga for his drinking) remains on the squad; he's currently with Flamengo in Rio and is still missing practices. Robinho, the fleet winger dubbed "top of the flops" by the British sports press after being moved from Real Madrid to Manchester City for $50 million, is part of Dunga's team, too. Robinho is trying to get into World Cup form now that City loaned him back to the Brazilian side Santos, where he made a name for himself; the Brazilian club is paying him $100,000 per game, half his earnings at City.
But the move that has caused the most uproar in a generally laid back nation is Dunga leaving Milan superstar Ronaldinho off the team. Many Brazilians still revere him as Brazil's best international star due to his FIFA and European footballer of the year awards. But Dunga remembers him for choking during the 2006 World Cup and boasting a party lifestyle equal to or greater than that of Adriano, who is known in some circles as "the Emperor."
Dunga's seeming tolerance for the lifestyles of the rich and famous are in sharp contrast with his predecessor, Luiz Felipe Scolari, the last coach to win a World Cup for Brazil in 2002. Showing up as outsiders who barely made it to the finals, the 2002 side responded to Scolari's tough, taskmaster style and philosophy of the game. He gave each member of the team a copy of Sun-Tzu's the Art of War. And it paid dividends, bringing the World Cup back to the land of Samba.
But the 2006 World Cup marked an attitude adjustment among elite owners, managers and players in the FIFA realm. Some big international footballers pulling down Peyton Manning and A-Rod numbers balked at Scolari's methods and owners and top football executives showed a preference for a more social style of coaching giving the players more freedom on and off the field. Manager superstars like Arsene Wenger emerged as role models. Wenger, who is French and holds a degree in electrical engineering, coaches Arsenal in the English Premier League. He says he bases his strategies on what "people say in the pubs."
Failing to win a second World Cup in 2006, the Brazilian Football Confederation replaced Scolari with Dunga, who has taken on some of Wenger's better attributes. Dunga overcame strong objections from Brazilian fans who remembered his rough and tumble style of play while a defender on the national team and as a star with Fiorentina in Italy. Some have compared Dunga's style as a player to that of the Scotsman "Big Jim" Holton, who helped pioneer the "thug" style while at Manchester United during the 1970s.
Dunga's mix of the the iron boot and the velvet elbow is a good yardstick for measuring the on-field state of FIFA football, globally. One can speculate on how the game has become more physical and theatrical when the sports press in Brazil, with nearly 200 million fans, refers to referees as mafia do apito (the whistle mob). Juxtaposed with the American sports matrix, FIFA football is right up there with NBA and NFL zebras and the "no blood, no foul" style tolerated by the NCAA that helps boost TV ratings for the quasi-professional Big East conference.
With stadium ticket prices for first division games in Brazil and Argentina now costly, and increases in real wages earned by fans not covering the costs, top football in South America is becoming a made for TV game, much as it is Mexico. As a result, globalization of FIFA football finds teams like Palmeiras in Brazil and Boca Juniors in Argentina exporting their top stars for top dollar as if they were commodities like coffee or wool to make ends meet. Players with common sense and good agents can demand high salaries and become uncoachable with the traditional football methods that Scolari used to win the World Cup for Brazil in 2002. The notion of pride and representing your country can quickly fade into the background.
Nineteen of Brazil's team play overseas, the majority in Italy. Eighteen of Argentina's team play overseas, most of them in Italy. Fifteen of the French team play for teams outside France. The English side has only one, David Beckham, who plays in Italy and may be a scratch after surgery on an Achilles tendon. But the England national team boasts an Italian head coach and his assistant is Italian too. But will the road to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa go through Rome?
Dunga has already covered his bets. The Brazilian sports press reports he is entertaining an offer from his old Italian team, Fiorentina, to become head coach after the World Cup.
Meanwhile, Luiz Felipe Scolari, who was released as coach of glamour side Chelsea last year, ostensibly because his emotional, driven style was not favored by his players, remains the world's highest paid coach, pulling down $19.7 million a year as manager of Uzbekistan League champions Bunyodkor in Tashkent, stadium size, 8,000. He thinks a Dunga can produce a "harmonious" team that can win the World Cup. Scolari, whose parents are of Italian descent, now travels on an Italian passport...