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Dunga

Dunga with Brazil in 2008
Personal information
Full name	Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri
Date of birth	(1963-10-31) 31 October 1963 (age 61)
Place of birth	Ijuí, Brazil
Height	1.76 m
Playing position	Defensive midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1980–1984	Internacional	10	(0)
1984–1985	Corinthians	13	(1)
1985–1987	Santos	16	(1)
1987	Vasco da Gama	17	(1)
1987–1988	Pisa	23	(2)
1988–1992	Fiorentina	124	(8)
1992–1993	Pescara	23	(3)
1993–1995	VfB Stuttgart	54	(7)
1995–1998	Júbilo Iwata	99	(16)
1999–2000	Internacional	20	(3)
Total		377	(42)
National team
1983–1986	Brazil Olympic	19	(4)
1987–1998	Brazil	91	(6)
Teams managed
2006–2010	Brazil
2008	Brazil U23
2012–2013	Internacional
2014–2016	Brazil
Honours Men's Football Representing  Brazil (as player) FIFA World Cup Winner 1994 USA Runner-up 1998 France FIFA Confederations Cup Winner 1997 Saudi Arabia Copa América Winner 1989 Brazil Winner 1997 Bolivia Runner-up 1995 Uruguay Olympic Games Silver 1984 Los Angeles Team Pan American Games Silver 1983 Caracas FIFA U-20 World Cup Winner 1983 Mexico South American U-20 Championship Winner 1983 Bolivia Representing  Brazil (as manager) FIFA Confederations Cup Winner 2009 South Africa Copa América Winner 2007 Venezuela Olympic Games Bronze 2008 Beijing Team
Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri (born 31 October 1963), known as Dunga (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈdũɡɐ]), is a Brazilian football manager and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder. Under his captaincy, Brazil won the 1994 FIFA World Cup and he lifted the World Cup trophy. Along with Xavi, he is one of only two men to have played in a World Cup final, an Olympic final, a Confederations Cup final and a continental championship final. He was head coach of Brazil twice. In his first spell from 2006 to 2010, he led them to victory in the 2007 Copa América and the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, and to the quarter-finals of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, after which he was dismissed by the Brazilian Football Confederation. He was appointed in 2014 for a second time, but Brazil's early exit from the Copa América Centenario led to his dismissal in June 2016. He was also head coach of Internacional in 2013.

His nickname is derived from the Portuguese translation of "Dopey", a dwarf from the Disney version of Snow White, and was given to him by his uncle due to his short height during childhood. It was believed that he would be a short adult and the nickname remained in use even after he grew up and became taller.

Playing career

Club career

Dunga was born in Ijuí, Rio Grande do Sul, of Italian and German descent. At the club level, he played for Internacional (1980–84, 1999–2000), Corinthians (1984–85), Santos (1985–87), Vasco da Gama (1987), Pisa (1987–88), Fiorentina (1988–92), Pescara (1992–93), VfB Stuttgart (1993–95), and Jubilo Iwata (1995–98).

International career

Internationally, Dunga played 91 times for Brazil, scoring six goals. His international career began in 1983 at the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Dunga captained the young Brazilian squad, winning the tournament against Argentina in the final. A year later, he helped Brazil to win a silver medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. Dunga then began reaching call-ups to Brazil's senior squad, winning the 1989 Copa América by defeating Uruguay at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

Dunga was a starter for Brazil at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, during which he was held responsible more so than his teammates for the team's worst campaign at a World Cup since 1966, after a lackluster tournament and the squad's subsequent elimination in the second round by arch rivals Argentina. In the following years, he would be consistently targeted by Brazilian press due to his supposedly "thuggish" style of playing. This period in Brazil's football history was called "Era Dunga", as according to fans and journalists, he symbolized the less-than-thrilling, slow, gritty, direct, and defensive style that the team had adopted in favour of a more exciting attacking style. Dunga played the anchor role in midfield extremely effectively, due to his ability to break down play and subsequently start attacks with his passing. Many other players in this position lunged into tackles and put themselves about, but Dunga rarely went to ground to make a tackle, instead using his anticipation and timing to win challenges and retrieve the ball. Despite his infamous reputation, Brazil's new coach Carlos Alberto Parreira kept Dunga as one of the starting XI throughout the 1994 World Cup Qualifiers and finals.

Raí initially started the 1994 World Cup in the United States as the Brazilian team's captain, but after allegedly being held responsible for Brazil's poor performances early on in the tournament, he was eventually dropped altogether in favour of Mazinho. Dunga took over the captaincy and went on to lift the trophy. Dunga scored the third penalty kick in the shoot-out victory against Italy in the final, following a 0–0 draw after extra-time. According to FIFA.com, the lack of attacking play in the final of the tournament against Italy was in part down to strong holding midfield play by Dino Baggio for Italy, and Dunga and Mauro Silva for Brazil.

Dunga retained the role of the Brazil national team's captain for the next four years until the 1998 FIFA World Cup, in which he participated, despite playing in the Japanese J. League, in what was considered to be a lower standard of competitive football at the time. The 1998 edition of the tournament was notable for the tensions and lack of teamwork within the Brazilian side. It was often visible on the pitch as demonstrated by the fact that Dunga got into a fight with teammate Bebeto in the first round match against Morocco, forcing the rest of the team to break them up. Despite these difficulties, Brazil went on to reach the final of the tournament, where they lost 3–0 to hosts France. En route to the final, Dunga scored his team's fourth penalty kick in the shootout victory against the Netherlands in the semi-finals.

Management

Brazil

Dunga in 2006

On 24 July 2006, Dunga was named as the new national coach of the Brazil national team as a replacement for Carlos Alberto Parreira, despite the fact that he had no prior coaching experience at the professional level. Nonetheless, he made an impressive start with Brazil, winning four of his first five matches.

Dunga's first match in charge was against Norway which was played in Oslo on 16 August 2006; the game ended in a 1–1 draw. His second match was held against archrivals Argentina on 3 September at Arsenal's new Emirates Stadium in London; Brazil won 3–0. On 5 September, Brazil then defeated Wales 2–0 at Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane ground. They later defeated Kuwaiti club Al-Kuwait 4–0, Ecuador 2–1 and Switzerland 2–1.

Dunga did not just look for players at large clubs, but looked at the whole scope of Europe, finding individual talents such as Daniel Carvalho, Vágner Love, Dudu Cearense of Russian club CSKA Moscow and from local Brazilian clubs such as Corinthians, Flamengo and São Paulo.

In 2007, Dunga managed Brazil to their second-straight Copa América title by beating Argentina in the final 3–0, who were heavily favored to win against a weaker Brazil squad. Dunga's squad also won the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa on 28 June 2009. The team came back from a 2–0 deficit against the United States to emerge victorious from a Lúcio header in the 84th minute that made the score 3–2.

At the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Brazil made it to the quarter-finals, where they suffered a 2–1 loss to the Netherlands after having led the game 1–0. After Brazil's exit from the competition, Dunga announced he would stand down as coach, but was first dismissed by CBF on 24 July 2010. Dunga's 2010 World Cup selections were criticized by many, including famous Brazilian footballer Pelé. Pelé believed Alexandre Pato and Neymar should have been selected to the squad.

It was announced on 29 August 2011 that Dunga had signed a contract with Qatari club Al-Rayyan as a replacement for Paulo Autuori, but Al Rayyan opted to sign another coach after Dunga stated he was "not sure" about the position.

Internacional

On 12 December 2012, Dunga was confirmed as new coach of Internacional, where he started and finished his career as a player. On 3 October 2013, he was fired after a series of losses left the gaúcho team in disarray.

Dunga served as a commentator for IRIB during the 2014 World Cup.

Return to Brazil

Dunga as the coach of Brazil in 2015

On 22 July 2014, Dunga was announced as the new manager of Brazil, replacing Luiz Felipe Scolari. He returned to the position for the first time since Brazil's exit in the 2010 World Cup.

Dunga's first match in his second reign as Brazil's manager was a friendly match against 2014 World Cup quarter-finalists Colombia at Sun Life Stadium in Miami on 5 September 2014, with Brazil winning the match 1–0 through an 83rd-minute Neymar free-kick goal. Dunga followed this up with wins against Ecuador (1–0), in the 2014 Superclásico de las Américas against Argentina (2–0), against Japan (4–0), against Turkey (0–4), and against Austria (1–2). Dunga continued Brazil's winning streak in 2015 by defeating France 3–1 in another friendly. They followed this with wins against Chile (1–0), Mexico (2–0) and Honduras (1–0).

2015 Copa América

Brazil started the tournament with a tight victory against Peru after coming from behind by 2–1 (with Douglas Costa scoring in the dying moments), followed by a 1–0 defeat against Colombia and a 2–1 victory against Venezuela. In the knockout stage, Brazil faced Paraguay and was eliminated after drawing 1–1 in normal time and losing 4–3 in the penalty shootout. As such, Brazil was unable to qualify for a FIFA Confederations Cup (in this case, the 2017 edition) for the first time in almost 20 years.

Copa América Centenario

Brazil began the tournament with a scoreless draw against Ecuador, with Ecuador having a goal controversially disallowed in the second half. This was followed by an emphatic 7–1 victory over Haiti, with Philippe Coutinho scoring a hat-trick. Needing only a draw to progress to the knockout stage of the tournament, Brazil suffered a controversial 1–0 loss to Peru, with Raúl Ruidíaz scoring by guiding the ball into the net with his arm. This loss, Brazil's first loss to Peru since 1985, saw Brazil eliminated from the tournament in the group stage for the first time since 1987. On 14 June 2016, he was fired by the CBF.

Style of play

During his early career and throughout his mid-twenties, Dunga alternated between playing as a holding-role midfielder and playing a box-to-box role. He was equally as effective playing either role, because he was quite a mobile player with excellent stamina, and therefore could get forward quickly to support his team's attacks, but at the same time he possessed all of the qualities associated with holding-role midfielders (vision, range of passing, solidity in the tackle, etc). However, as he developed beyond his mid-twenties, Dunga gradually became more specialized in the holding-role. He was extremely effective in protecting his team's defensive line, and extremely sure-footed when he tackled. As a defensive midfielder, his level of technique was so well developed that he could often make a tackle and play a layoff to one of his team-mates with the same touch of the ball. A defining characteristic of his play was his economy of technique - he almost always did everything as simply as possible. In a situation where other midfielders might touch the ball 3 or 4 times, Dunga would touch it only twice, a habit made possible because his first touch was so good. He believed in quick circulation of the ball to stretch the opposition's defenders and midfielders, so he passed the ball on quickly rather than dwelling on it. His short passing was almost always flawless, mainly because he was exceptionally composed on the ball when he was being pressured by opponents, and was a master at using his upper-body to shield the ball. He very rarely gave the ball away. In addition, he also showed exceptional vision and pinpoint-accuracy when he made long passes. He possessed the intelligence, the work-rate, and the athletic and technical ability to play as a midfield ball-winner and a deep-lying playmaker rolled into one. He is regarded as one of the greatest defensive midfielders of all time.

Queens Park Rangers dispute

Dunga has an ongoing financial dispute with English club Queens Park Rangers. He claims he loaned £750,000 to QPR as an investor in the club when it was under previous owners, but that the new owners are refusing to give it back. QPR have commented on this issue by saying the cheque he paid to the club bounced, and that he is aware of this fact.

Career statistics

Club

International

Coaching record

Honours

Player

Internacional

• Rio Grande do Sul State League: 1982, 1983, 1984

Vasco da Gama

• Rio de Janeiro State League: 1987

Júbilo Iwata

• J. League: 1997

Brazil U-20

• FIFA U-20 World Cup: 1983
• South American Youth Championship: 1983

Brazil

• FIFA World Cup: 1994
• FIFA Confederations Cup: 1997
• Copa América: 1989, 1997
• Olympic Silver Medal: 1984
• Pan American Games Silver Medal: 1983
• South American Pre-Olympic Tournament: 1984

Individual

• World XI: 1990, 1991
• FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1994, 1998
• J. League Most Valuable Player: 1997
• J. League Best Eleven: 1997, 1998
• FIFA XI: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
• Venerdi's 100 Magnifici
• Golden Foot: 2010, as a football legend
• Fiorentina All-time XI

Manager

Internacional

• Rio Grande do Sul State League: 2013

Brazil

• Copa América: 2007
• Olympic Bronze Medal: 2008
• FIFA Confederations Cup: 2009
• Superclásico de las Américas: 2014

Individual

• IFFHS World's Best National Coach: 2007

See also

In Spanish: Dunga para niños List of Brazil national football team managers