Brazil coach Dunga takes big gamble

It’s weird. Brazil arrive in Johannesburg this week and nobody’s making a fuss.

The last time Brazil dropped by, for that wonderful 3-2 friendly victory over Bafana Bafana in 1997, South Africa was practically speaking in tongues.

Since then, we’ve grown up a bit, while Brazil have slipped a floor in the elevator of world football. Spain have usurped their position as the most stylish team in world football and coach Carlos Dunga’s talent pool is strangely patchy.

Dunga isn’t even thinking about the Confederations Cup — first, he must negotiate a treacherous World Cup qualifier against Paraguay on Wednesday.

And the squad that will cross the Atlantic a day later is a brave, experimental one.

For us lowly mortals, picking a national football team is a simple culinary task. Pick the two best players in each position — using cold statistics as your measure — then season lightly with one chilli-hot youngster. Stir vigorously for two weeks and serve hot. Voila!

But Dunga is no lowly mortal. Like every other guardian of the Seleçao (Brazilian team), he is mandated to make football history. That requires a visionary, not just a humdrum chef kow- towing to an easy recipe.

So Dunga craves a vindication rush: that sweet moment when a risky selection triumphs, thus proving everybody wrong but the much-maligned genius in the dugout.

Carlos Alberto Parreira also chased the vindication rush when he was in charge. He got it in 1994, when the most defensive Brazilian team in history won the World Cup, with Dunga as captain.

No cigar in 2006, though, when Parreira stubbornly persisted with Roberto Carlos, Cafu and Ronaldo — and that trio’s geriatric efforts vindicated millions of nay sayers.

Maybe it’s a Brazilian thing, this urge to gamble. Bafana Bafana coach Joel Santana recently took a wild flier by snubbing an 18-goal striker in favour of a three-goal striker. Either that, or he was just taking the piss.

In his Confederations Cup selection, Dunga has done something similar by ignoring Wolfsburg goal fiend Grafite — the Bundesliga’s top scorer this season with 28 strikes — and persisting with the off-form Luis Fabiano, who has netted just eight times for Sevilla.

Dunga also gambled on the fast-fading Gilberto Silva and the ring-rusty Elano, and dumped Ronaldinho.

But the reaction in Brazil has not been hostile, mainly because Dunga called up five Brazil- based stars in Nilmar, Ramires, Victor, Kleber and Andre Santos. The homeboys have been an endangered species in the Seleçao lately, so the new blood has been applauded.

Group rivals Italy should be wary of Internacional striker Nilmar and attacking midfielder Ramires, who has just transferred to Benfica from Cruzeiro.

Nilmar had an average season with Olympique Lyon in 2005, but since returning to Brazil with Corinthians and now Internacional, he has matured into a scintillating forward.

For evidence, visit YouTube and savour Nilmar’s Maradonesque solo goal against Corinthians last month, in which he made six defenders look like donkeys in shorts.

Ramires, a dynamic, goal- scoring midfielder, is nicknamed “Queniano Azul” — the Blue Kenyan — on account of his Cruzeiro shirt, his dark complexion and his exceptional speed and stamina. He’s not a Ronaldinho or a Rivaldo, but there are no emerging talents of that calibre available.

Brazilian football is at a low ebb at present, especially in attacking positions. Ronaldinho has declined, Adriano is an emotional wreck and while Robinho has been picked, he has stagnated at Manchester City.

Much is now expected of Alexandre Pato, the AC Milan wunderkind who’s excelling in Serie A but has yet to look the business in a yellow jersey.

It would be a sad state of affairs if Dunga cannot assemble a world-class strike force from the ocean of players at his disposal.

So history beckons for Nilmar, Ramires and Pato. And for Brazilian footballers, history is a harsh judge.


Brazil squad

Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), Heurelho Gomes (Tottenham Hotspur), Victor (Gremio).

Defenders: Maicon (Inter Milan), Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Alex (Chelsea), Juan (AS Roma), Lucio (Bayern Munich), Luisao (Benfica), Kleber (Internacional), Andre Santos (Corinthians).

Midfielders: Anderson (Manchester United), Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos), Josue (VfL Wolfsburg), Ramires (Cruzeiro), Elano (Manchester City), Felipe Melo (Fiorentina), Julio Baptista (AS Roma), Kaka (AC Milan).

Forwards: Alexandre Pato (AC Milan), Luis Fabiano (Sevilla), Nilmar (Internacional), Robinho (Manchester City).


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