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It was late February 2022 when Tite revealed he would be stepping down as Brazil head coach at the end of the Qatar World Cup.
That, in theory, gave the Brazilian FA (CBF) plenty of time to work on his replacement. As it turned out, though, it wasn’t enough.
Since then, the Selecao have had two caretaker managers – Ramon Menezes and Fernando Diniz – and another manager they assumed had been hired and publicly announced it but wasn’t – Carlo Ancelotti.
Only now, when they take on England this Saturday at Wembley, will Brazil finally have in Dorival Jr a permanent manager in charge, putting an end to what was largely perceived back home as “a lost year”.
“That was the result of much disorganisation and also some arrogance to believe that any coach would just come running [to take the job] because it’s the Brazilian national team,” former Brazil international Walter Casagrande, now a popular football pundit, told BBC Sport.
In 2023, the Selecao finished a year with more defeats than wins for the first time since 1963 – in total, they lost five times, drew once and won just three times in nine games, breaking several negative records along the way, including losing a home World Cup qualifier – versus Argentina – and three consecutive qualifiers – versus Colombia, Uruguay and Argentina – for the first time.
In six qualifying matches, they have conceded more goals (seven) than in the entire previous campaign (five in 17 games).
Overall, the Brazilians managed to beat only Guinea, Bolivia and Peru, so it’s no surprise the team’s confidence before the game with England is at its lowest level since the 7-1 thrashing by Germany in 2014.
With a new era starting in London, the five-time world champions will be hoping to move on from arguably one of their worst years in recent history.
“The current Brazilian side cannot compete with any top European team,” added Casagrande. “And that also applies to France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Croatia and others.”
“One of the greatest humiliations in the history of Brazilian football”
Having last won the World Cup trophy in 2002, equalling their longest run without lifting it – the 24 years between 1970 and 1994 – the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) made Ancelotti top of their list after the quarter-finals exit in Qatar.
It instantly sparked a local debate on whether Brazil should wait for any coach, regardless of how impressive their CV was.
With Ancelotti under contract for one more season with Real Madrid back then, CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues decided he was worth the wait and confirmed he would only take over at this year’s Copa America.
“He will be there, it’s a sure thing,” explained Rodrigues last July.
Such was the mess around that time that Under-20 national team boss Menezes had to travel to Brazil on his day off during the Under-20 World Cup in Argentina to announce the senior squad for friendlies and return the same day to the neighbouring country because there was no one else to do it.
In his brief spell, Menezes failed to impress, so Rodrigues came up with another unusual solution, naming Fluminense coach Diniz on a temporary basis while he still maintained his role with the Libertadores Cup champions.
Despite being highly rated in the country, Diniz couldn’t make an impact either. And as if things couldn’t get any worse, Rodrigues was removed from his post in December by a local court, which prompted Fifa to threaten to suspend Brazil from international competitions due to third-party interference.
Rock bottom came when Ancelotti announced later that month that he’d be extending his contract with Real Madrid until 2026.
“I’m grateful for the interest, but in the end, it turned out how I wanted: staying here,” he said in a news conference.
It went down as “one of the greatest humiliations” in the history of Brazilian football.
“Ancelotti has never confirmed that he would coach Brazil nor has CBF ever presented any concrete evidence [apart from words] that he had agreed to,” argued three-time world champion and former Brazil forward Tostao, now a Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper columnist.
Moving on from the Ancelotti fiasco
So the Selecao started 2024 with an interim president, an interim coach and not much hope for the future. Even by the CBF standards, that was a new low.
In the early days of January, however, Rodrigues was reinstated as president and, as one of his first actions back in office, fired Diniz over the phone and replaced him with Dorival Junior from Sao Paulo.
Having long held a ‘firefighter’ reputation for saving desperate sides, Dorival survived prostate cancer in 2019 and has since reached the peak of his career, winning the Libertadores Cup in 2022 and the Brazilian Cup for the two consecutive seasons. The Wembley match versus England will certainly feel special for him.
“Last year was completely lost but we need to see how Dorival will do now,” said Casagrande.
Saturday will be a good gauge of how far Brazil have come.
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