RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil, needing to make up for lost time in terms of coaching and cohesion, have taken a step back into the last century instead writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

Unless Dunga [full name: Carlos Verri] has undergone a major transformation of opinion and style then the next years trying to overcome the legacy of World Cup disaster will be divisive ones.

Luiz Felipe   named Dunga as their manager for the second time on Tuesday, two weeks after they were hammered 7-1 by Germany in the World Cup semi-finals, a result which led to the resignation of former coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Dunga, 50, captained Brazil to their fourth world title in 1994, was last in charge of the national team in 2010 when he was sacked for failing to take them further than the World Cup quarter-finals in South Africa.

He said: “I am enormously happy to be back. I have an outline of what I want. Fans know me and they know I am not going to sell a dream but a reality and that reality is we have to work hard.”

Dunga acknowledged Brazil have fallen behind the leading European teams and said he has spent his time outside football watching games and talking to managers and former players such as Arsene Wenger, Ruud Gullit and Arrigo Sacchi.

He warned fans not to expect cavalier football and said the best form of attack is defence.

Winning captain

“Managers today organise the defence in order to be able to attack,” he told reporters at a news conference to announce his appointment. “The important thing is not to have four or five players up front, it is to get forward with four or five players. Football today is total. Everyone needs to participate.”

Dunga played for a host of clubs in Brazil, Italy, Germany and Japan and was known for his combative midfield style. He captained Brazil to their fourth World Cup in the United States in 1994.

He was first appointed Brazil manager in 2006 but although he won both the 2007 Copa America and the 2009 Confederations Cup, his team crumbled when they went behind to the Netherlands at the 2010 World Cup and lost 2-1, costing him his job.

His only managerial position in the years since was a 10-month spell in charge of Internacional, the club where he started and ended his playing career.

His appointment as the new Brazil boss was leaked last week and comes just 10 days after Germany won the World Cup after a campaign which included a historic 7-1 victory over the hosts in the semi-finals in Belo Horizonte.

Earlier the CBF had appointed FIFA agent Gilmar Rinaldi as technical coordinator in charge of all Brazil’s adult, youth and female sides. He and Dunga were friends and team mates at both Internacional and on the Brazil side that won the 1994 World Cup.

Dunga’s first match in charge will be against Colombia in Miami in early September, with further friendlies against Ecuador, Argentina and Turkey to follow. Brazil face competitive challenges in the Copa America in Chile next year and then the home Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Brazil have never won Olympic football gold.

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