The Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) has sacked head coach Dunga after the men’s national team crashed out of the Copa America tournament in the group stage.
Despite thrashing minnows Haiti 7-1 earlier in the tournament, a 0-0 draw with Ecuador in Brazil’s first game saw them needing at least a draw with Peru in their final group match in order to advance to the knockout rounds.
The team known as the “Selecao” lost to Peru 0-1 in Massachusetts on Sunday, sealing its departure from the centenary edition of the tournament.
The Brazilian team, once the undisputed gold standard on the football pitch, is suffering an ongoing crisis and has slipped to seventh in the world rankings.
It remains the world’s most decorated national team with five World Cups, but its decline has been noted over the past few years.
Brazil reached a humiliating nadir at Belo Horizonte during the 2014 World Cup two years ago — a game that saw its disastrous exit from the tournament with a 7-1 trouncing by eventual winner, Germany.
Dunga, whose real name is Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri, took over from Luiz Filipe Scolari following that match.
This was Dunga’s second spell as coach of the national team — he had led the team to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, but could not advance beyond the quarter finals.
Dunga, a former midfielder, had previously been a World Cup-winning captain in 1994, as well as a runner up in the next tournament in 1998.
Corinthians coach Tite is reportedly meeting with CBF officials and is the favorite to be Dunga’s replacement, according to local press reports.
Dunga’s job in the U.S. was complicated by the omission of one of Brazil’s only remaining superstars, Neymar, who is being kept in reserve for the Summer Olympics, which kick off in Rio in August.
