Skip to main content

Dunga hired again as Brazil soccer coach

  • Author:
  • Publish date:

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) Brazil is bringing back Dunga to coach the national team, four years after he was fired from the job.

Tuesday's hiring comes two weeks after Brazil was eliminated from the World Cup in a humiliating 7-1 loss to Germany in the semifinals.

The 50-year-old Dunga is replacing Luiz Felipe Scolari, who resigned last week after Brazil failed to win the sport's premier event on its home soil. The Brazilian federation confirmed the appointment during a news conference at its headquarters in suburban Rio de Janeiro.

Dunga was the captain of Brazil's 1994 World Cup-winning team and coached the national team at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He was dismissed after Brazil lost 2-1 in the quarterfinals to the Netherlands.

''He has shown his capacity to lead the Brazil team, not only in words but also in numbers, that he has all the requisites and the capacity to lead the Brazil team again,'' said the federation's president, Jose Maria Marin. ''It was a decision made with the participation of everyone here at this table in a show of unity and total integration aimed at great conquests in the future.''

Dunga was in charge of 60 matches as national team coach in his first stint. Brazil won 42, lost six and tied 12.

Dunga came to the job for the first time in 2006 with no management experience. He was criticized for the team's physical style of play and conservative tactics.