Brazil’s latest coach Dorival Junior has waged several battles for survival. As a journeyman defensive midfielder, he turned up for 13 different clubs in 16 years; his 25 years as manager has been scattered across 23 clubs. In between, he outlasted cancer. Yet, his biggest fight for survival could yet to be, as the coach of the most successful football country in the world, a journey intertwined with Brazil’s fate in qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
The burden on his broad shoulders is inhuman, a crushing weight no other coach in his country has shouldered. It is not to lift the World Cup, a load most coaches in Brazil’s history had to drag, but to qualify for the World Cup. A bloated tournament — a leap from 32 to 48 — could allay some anxiety. Brazil can’t be that bad. ain’t they?
But the eventuality of the world’s most decorated football country, the breathing soul of the game for the romantics, missing out on the tournament is not just a lurid fever dream, but a distinct possibility.
The Selecao have won a lone game in the last five World Cup qualifying matches, losing not only to established rivals Uruguay, Argentina and Colombia, but even to Paraguay. At the COPA America, they crashed out before the last-four for the ninth time in major tournaments outside Brazil since 2009. But the shocking bit was not that they lost in the quarterfinals, but that they reached that stage, brandishing the sort of insipid football that would make the 1994 pragmatists red with rage.
Brazil’s Vinicius Jr, second from right, pokes fun at Lucas Paqueta, during a training session ahead of a World Cup qualifier against Ecuador, in Curitiba, Parana state, Brazil. (AP)
The plain reality, cleansed of romance and nostalgia, is that they are no longer the most superior team in the Americas, rather they are the fourth or fifth best team in the continent, an imitation of an imitation.
Style had long departed Brazilian football, in the last few years it has lost its soul too. Since the 2014 World Cup, the stasis has only been disguised by its imposing history. It is a malaise classical of the fall of the world’s great empires. The decay might have set in long ago, but the brutal reality would hit only when an epochal defeat arrives. Like Brazil failing to qualify. Like how Italy felt eight years ago —now it has become normal and accepted, after they missed out on the subsequent edition too.
The difference was that Italy’s rot was bleedingly obvious. The Serie A’s drop in standards was dramatic. The great talent factory that was AC Milan disintegrated. They stopped producing impenetrable defenders and insouciant forwards, even those staple number nines.
Brazil’s dysfunction is less conspicuous. Personnel-wise, they still boast an army of highly-skilled players. The Real Madrid trident of Vinicius Junior, Endrick and Rodrygo are nightmares for most defenders in La Liga. When Neymar heals his injury, he too would be in the mix. There is no shortage of firepower and sturdiness in midfield. The defence is not slack either; they possess two of the most progressive goalkeepers in the world.
The fall guys
In such a backdrop, the knives are instantly sharpened at the coaches. To an extent, it is reasonable. The coaching standards in Europe have leapt enormously — for all the riches, Brazil has never been a coaching country.
So Brazil identified Carlo Ancelotti as Tite’s successor. But the dream never materialised, and dejected, they sought the exact opposite path and embraced the left-field option of Junior, their third manager in the last two years. Now that they have picked, it’s better that they persist with him, and give him time to build a team, to find the formula that could make them tick.
It’s a strange yet typical modern-day predicament. The coach has those that shimmer in club jerseys, but turn off their light in the famous canary yellow shirts. Maybe, it could be that they could only function in the regimented shapes and systems of the club, their imagination stifled when out of their comfort zone. Not just Brazil, a host of other teams too face this. For instance, the paradox that was Phil Foden for Manchester City and England.
Brazil’s coach Dorival Junior enters the field prior to a qualifying soccer match for the FIFA World Cup 2026 against Ecuador at Couto Pereira Stadium in Curitiba, Parana state, Brazil. (AP)
The chemistry among Brazilian players in the recent outings has been non-existent, each player unto a planet, or a bunch of strangers stitched into a team. In the Paraguay game, the forward-line was toothless, neither creative nor energetic. Midfielders were ponderous – consuming too much time on the ball – functioned without coherence and were frequently outmuscled by the Paraguayans.
But Junior insists the team has improved from when he had taken over. Perhaps, he has a point. He has a clear vision — he has stepped away from the usual 4-2-2-2 to a more modern, possession-based 4-2-3-1. But his teams lack the dynamism to harness the best from the system.
The 62-year-old is popular among the public and media, and has pleaded for patience after every defeat. “We’re working with love and patience. We all want this team to get back to where it once was. The results weren’t what we wanted — I accept that and take responsibility — but I have no doubt that this team will grow from here,” he said after the COPA exit.
He offered another reality check too. “The world has grown and understands football more and more. We face difficult opponents. All the big teams in the world are going through the same thing. It’s harder to get results than it once was,” he had said. It is true, but none of the harsh realities would win him sympathy in his latest fight for survival.
