After the officialization of the CBF, the choice to appoint Dorival Júnior at the head of the Seleção does not stop making the country talk about football. But the 61-year-old coach has a pedigree far from uninteresting, while his offensive philosophy now seems to stick to the present forces of the squad.
While snoring names such as Carlo Ancelotti, Zinedine Zidane and José Mourinho had been circulating for several months to take over from interim Fernando Diniz at the head of the Brazilian team, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) finally opted for a new very national profile by hiring the coach, Dorival Júnior (61 years old): “The São Paulo Futebol Clube announces the departure of coach Dorival Júnior, who has asked for his resignation to take control of the Brazilian team,” the paulista club announced on social networks, while the official statement of the CBF was still pending. But the arrival of Dorival Júnior at the head of Seleção was made official in the early evening. The CBF was only waiting for the right timing to make a proper announcement, at a time when an urgent file has tained the landscape around Brazilian football: the impeachment
and then the return of Ednaldo Rodrigues to the position of President of the CBF, with the shadow of a huge suspension threatened to be jointly applied by the International Football Association Federation (FIFA) and the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL).
“It is the realization of a personal dream, which was only possible because I received recognition for the work done in São Paulo. That is why I must thank you for participating in this important period of reconstruction, competently led by the Presidency and the Board of Directors. Thanks to the investments in infrastructure and planning in recent years, the Club is ready to welcome the most qualified professionals on the market. I would also like to thank the supporters for all their love and support, “said Dorival Júnior, nephew of the legendary Dudu, at the time of his departure. If the Araraquara native does not have the pedigree of the aforementioned tacticians such as Mourinho, Ancelotti or Zidane, he nevertheless enjoys a strong experience in Brazil and will therefore inscribe his name in the long line of very Brazilian coaches mainly from the Brazilian championship and the national team (Tite, Dunga, Mano Menezes or Émerson Leão).
A national icon
At 61, Dorival Júnior’s experience on Brazilian benches is no longer to be proven. He has directed all the biggest clubs in the country: Santos, Palmeiras, Flamengo, Fluminense, Vasco da Gama, Saõ Paulo, Internacional and Cruzeiro. The now new coach from Brazil has never trained outside his native country and likes to change challenges. Between 2002 and 2023, he changed benches no less than 25 times with an average of seven months spent on the benches. His record for the longest passage is in Santos but he had remained “only” two years. In terms of the prize list, Dorival Júnior can boast of having nice trophies in his wardrobe with three Brazilian cups, a Series B and a Copa Libertadores, won with the Flamengo club. During his career, he coached many young Brazilian nuggets that subsequently exploded in Europe with more or less success: Juninho, Ricardo Oliveria, Lucio, Ramires, Oscar, Hernanes, Lucas Paqueta, Lucas Moura, Eder Militão, Ganso, Leandro Damião and especially Neymar.
The year 2015 was a turning point in Dorival Júnior’s coaching career since he took a sabbatical year, not to move away from lawns and stadiums, far from it. Indeed, he moved to Europe for a year with the objective of increasing his tactical skills by meeting several great European coaches and browsing the training centers of Chelsea, AS Roma, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. He attends conferences and sessions led by Pep Guardiola: “I went to Europe to look for some things that were happening there. I tried to adapt them as best as possible to my work, to my way of seeing football. I liked to give more importance to the tactical part, not to mention the technical part, to contribute to the improvement of Brazilian football, “he explained. This enriching experience also earned him the nickname of the “Brazilian Guardiola” in the press on his return to Brazil and the former LOSC midfielder, Thiago Maia, who rubbed shoulders with Dorival in Santos, said on this subject: “it’s really the Brazilian Pep Guardiola. He was very inspired by Bayern. He did his apprenticeship there and brought what he learned here.”
Offensive football and rough management
Let’s discuss a little more about his tactical pat. In the country of joga bonito, the offensive game seems to be obvious. And Dorival’s philosophy, articulated around a 4-2-3-1, is resolutely turned towards the attack. During his career, he evolved a lot and his stay in Europe allowed him to transform and modernize his game. Originally, Dorival Júnior was a follower of a more vertical and direct game, before being inspired in particular by Pep Guardiola, assimilating the advantages of possession and tactical innovation. Under his leadership, his teams rely on an effective midfielder that makes fast passes to get the ball up quickly on the field, while the lateral backs make breakthroughs in the last third to provoke opportunities on stopped kicks. When it is no longer in possession of the ball, the defense forms a fortress in its half of the field with two men stationed in front of the back line to four to recover the ball and contain the counter-attacks. With the Dorival choice, the CBF takes the backlash of Diniz’s method focused on the oppositional game. The biggest flaw in Dorival Júnior’s profile is ultimately in the management of the locker room. His name had traveled somewhat across the Atlantic on September 15, 2010, when he coached Santos and directed a certain Neymar.
The 61-year-old coach had an altercation with the future FC Barcelona player, in a victory (4-2) at home against Atlético Goianiense. After causing a penalty, Neymar asked for the ball to shoot it but Dorival Júnior demanded that Marcel take care of it. Despite Marcel’s successful attempt, the discussion between the player and the coach had left sequelae, with Neymar later refusing to pass the ball to Marcel for the rest of the game. On September 21, 2010, it was reported that Dorival Júnior would not summon Neymar for the next match against Corinthians as a punishment for his acts of indiscipline. A few hours later, however, the coach was dismissed by Santos’ management. To see how the now new Seleção coach will manage a cloakroom so rich in ego and talent. His mission is nevertheless clear: to find remedies for Brazil’s thousand evils, which has three consecutive defeats (Uruguay, Colombia and Argentina), occupying 6th place in the South American qualifications for the 2026 World Cup.
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