The Brazilian team waited 13 months for a coach who had a "grudge" against Neymar
Since Tite's departure on December 9, 2022, after a long wait of 13 months, the Brazilian team finally has a new official coach - Dorivar, the senior coach who coached the Sao Paulo team last season, accepted the invitation of the Brazilian Football Federation and announced his departure from Sao Paulo on Monday, and will attend the press conference of the new coach this Thursday local time. With the arrival of Dorivar, the many chaotic Brazilian football in recent years have at least solved the urgent task of the national team without a leader.
In early December last year, the Rio District Court dismissed the president of the Brazilian Football Federation, Edernaldo, on the grounds of procedural invalidity, and FIFA and the South American Football Confederation threatened a possible global ban on Brazil, and on Monday the two major football confederation delegations arrived in Brazil to investigate. In order to avoid a global ban, the president of Brazil's Federal Supreme Court, Méndez, issued an injunction last Thursday, and the Rio District Court ruled that it was banned from execution, and Ednaldo was reinstated.
But the ban was the sole work of Mendez and would not be formally passed until the Supreme Court deliberated in early February. Ednador, who has returned to power, must quickly cut through the chaos and resolve the crisis before that. After his reinstatement, he immediately dismissed the interim coach Dinis who had a poor record, and announced that the coach would be confirmed as soon as possible, ending the embarrassment of the Brazilian team that had no official coach for 13 months.
Ednardo locked up the coach of the São Paulo team, Dorivar, and immediately communicated with the president of São Paulo Casares. There is another key reason why Dorivar decided to take over the national team: Bastos, one of the candidates for the election of the president of the Brazilian Football Federation, the president of the São Paulo State Football Federation, also supported him to coach the Brazilian team. Bastos has the support of most state football federations and clubs in the first and second divisions, and is likely to be Ednaldo's successor in the future. This means that no matter how chaotic the Football Association is, Doriwal will be able to get the most support.
Dorivar's contract with Sao Paulo expires with one year remaining, but it is difficult to turn down an offer to coach Brazil. After training last Sunday, he informed the São Paulo board of directors of his departure and assistant coach Sotero and son Sylvestre continued to lead the team in training. Sao Paulo will join Dorivar in the Brazilian national team after finding a new manager. Dorivar is well aware of the pressures of coaching the Brazilian national team, and he agreed to coach on the condition that he be free from interference and freely choose his colleagues such as the coaching staff and the coordinator. Apparently, Ednaldo also fulfilled Dorivar's request.
The 61-year-old began his coaching career in 2002 and had his first success in 2010 when he took charge of Santos and won the São Paulo State League and Copa do Brasil Cup, under which Neymar rose to prominence. Over the past 10 years, Dorivar has coached 10 Brazilian giants in the four states of Rio, São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio Sul.
Doribal's peak has been in the last two years, and in 2022, he led the small team Ceará to six consecutive victories in the group stage of the Copa Sudamericana, setting a record for this competition. In June, he took over from Paulo Sousa in charge of Flamengo and won the Copa do Brasil and Copa Libertadores. He took over from Seni in charge of Sao Paulo in March last year and won the Copa do Brasil for the first time in their history, beating former club Flamengo in the final.
After Carlo Ancelotti refused to coach Brazil, the Brazilian Football Federation was also politely rejected by the more successful Portuguese coach in the country, A. Ferreira. Ednardo retreated to the next best thing and invited Dorivar, a homegrown coach with the second highest score behind Ferreira. Dorivar has a good reputation in Brazilian football and is respected by most of the players in the teams he has coached. He has won the recognition of his players for his equal dialogue and fair play, he is able to remain calm in public, and he is willing to listen to his players without hiding his problems.
Dorivar pays great attention to detail, such as when he coached Santos in 2015, when he reported to the club that the fire extinguisher in the training base had expired. His style of play is one that prefers to emphasise attacking pace in possession, but is improvised. The tactics of Flamengo and Sao Paulo under his coach are very different, and the formations and tactics can change from opponent to opponent. He also has a strong personality, having suffered from prostate cancer in 2019, but after months of treatment, he eventually overcame the disease to make a brilliant coaching career in Brazil and South America.
Under the recent turmoil in Brazilian football, Dorivar, who is willing to accept the order, has become the best choice for the national team coach. But his feud with Neymar 13 years ago is likely to be a new hidden danger for the Brazilian team.
When he was in charge of Santos in September 2010, Dorivar asked Neymar to concede a penalty, which led to a verbal altercation between the two. After that, although Neymar obeyed the coach's decision, he never passed the ball to his teammate Marcel, who took the penalty. Six days later, Dorivar punished Neymar by excluding him from the squad against Corinthians. A few hours later, it was Dorivar who was sacked by the club. Neymar's injury to miss the Copa America allowed Doriwal to postpone the issue, but it may not be easy to turn the page.
With the arrival of Dorivar, the crisis in Brazilian football has been partially resolved for the time being. The crisis over the appointment and dismissal of the president of the Brazilian Football Federation will take more time and will be resolved by the FIFA and South American Football Conmebol delegations in negotiations with the Brazilian government, the courts and the Football Federation. But at the very least, the Brazilian national team can be led by a new coach and give people hope that the Samba Army will continue to move forward.