JOIN USFormer Brazil coach Dunga has revealed lessons from Brazil’s storied football past convinced him to leave Neymar out of the Selecao’s 2010 World Cup squad.
Neymar had already earned a reputation as a precocious talent - reportedly attracting a 35 million-euro bid from Chelsea - but Dunga inists the then 18-year-old was not ready to play in football’s premier tournament.
“I wasn’t right and I wasn’t wrong,” Dunga said in an interview with Brazilian television station Sportv.”
“He was a player who the previous December had been a reserve for Santos. He started to play as a starter for them in January and our last match before the World Cup squad was announced in March.”
After cementing his place in Santos’ first team in January 2010, Neymar scored 14 goals in 19 matches in the Sao Paulo state championship. In April, he netted five times in the team’s 8-1 defeat of Guarani in the Brazilian Cup.
Such form prompted former Selecao greats like Pele, Romario and Zico to publicly call for the teenager’s inclusion in Brazil’s squad. But Dunga had other ideas.
“The story that we have often seen in Brazil is that players with only a handful of matches have never really lived up to expectations in the World Cup,” said Dunga, who is currently working as a television commentator.
“In 1966, we had players who in 1970 were much better, but in 1966 they didn’t have experience. And Brazil performed badly in 1966.”
“We took our decision (in 2010) based on that and the team that we had built. Now we’re seeing a different Neymar. He is the biggest name in the Brazilian team and this is his moment. He is playing in Europe and Brazil is expecting big things of him in the hope that he can help the team win the World Cup.”
Dunga was sacked after Brazil’s quarterfinal exit from the 2010 tournament. Neymar won his first Brazil cap under Mano Menezes less than a month later, scoring in the team’s 2-0 friendly victory over the US.
Meanwhile, Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari came under more pressure after news came that a psychologist had visited the squad at their training base.
Several of Brazil's team were clearly on edge as the Chile match went to penalties, which they won 3-2, with keeper Julio Cesar and captain Thiago Silva crying in front of millions of TV viewers and raising concerns about their emotional state.
"You're wrong in these interpretations. For God's sake, please stop thinking that so and so goes there only for specific reasons. That's all wrong," Scolari told a news conference at the Castelao arena, cutting off the reporter asking the question.