Brazil looks to Junior for new direction

RIO DE JANEIRO — Sao Paulo FC boss Dorival Junior will be the new coach of the Brazilian national team, the club said Sunday, after Fernando Diniz was fired by the five-time world champion following a string of losses.

"It's a personal dream come true," the 2023 Copa do Brasil-winning coach said in a statement posted by Sao Paulo on X, formerly Twitter, after days of speculation that he would be named to take over the struggling national side.

The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) did not immediately confirm the announcement.

Dorival, 61, coached Flamengo to two major titles in 2022 — the Copa do Brasil and Copa Libertadores, the South American equivalent of Europe's Champions League — before joining Sao Paulo, where he has continued to rack up trophies.

He takes over soccer powerhouse Brazil at a difficult time.

Under Diniz, Brazil had racked up three straight losses in World Cup qualifiers, including a humiliating 1-0 loss at home to archrival Argentina in November.

The "Selecao" has struggled with a series of injuries, notably to star player Neymar, who went off with a torn knee ligament in a 2-0 loss to Uruguay in October and is expected to be sidelined for months.

Brazil is currently sixth in South America's 2026 World Cup qualifiers, the last automatic qualifying spot from the continent.

The CBF, meanwhile, has been embroiled in a messy legal battle over its leadership that saw its president, Ednaldo Rodrigues, ousted from the job by a court ruling in December, only to be reinstated by a Supreme Court judge last week.

In the interim, Rodrigues' bid to hire Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti to coach Brazil fell apart when the Italian renewed his contract with the Spanish club.

Diniz, 49, who coached Rio de Janeiro club Fluminense to the 2023 Libertadores title, was hired for the Brazil job in July.

Fans had hoped his style, which focuses on improvisation and creativity, would restore the thrilling "samba soccer" Brazil is famous for, after the disappointment of two straight World Cup quarterfinal exits under longtime coach Tite.

But Diniz, who remained coach of Fluminense, largely failed to replicate the attacking brilliance he has installed there, triggering criticism that splitting his time between the club and national team was too much.

Dorival, a nephew of legendary Palmeiras midfielder Dudu, comes with a vastly different style.

The veteran manager, who has had stints with some 20 clubs, took a sabbatical in 2015 to travel to Europe and observe coaching methods at Chelsea, Roma, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

"He's the Brazilian Pep Guardiola," midfielder Thiago Maia, who played under Dorival at Santos, has said.

"He drew lots of inspiration from Bayern. He did an apprenticeship there and brought what he learned (from Guardiola) here."

AFP