Brazil are the only country to have won the World Cup five times. And on every occasion, the man in charge was Brazilian. So, say most of the Brazilian coaching fraternity, there is no need to start a revolution through a foreign appointment to the national team.
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To some, the idea of an outsider commanding the foremost symbol of the Brazilian nation is anathema. But there are problems with this way of thinking. For a start, it is entirely backward looking. It fails under the test of “what have you done for me lately?” More than two decades have gone by since Brazil last lifted the World Cup in 2002. In that time every campaign has ended as soon as they came up against a European team in the knockout stage. And the worrying thing is that the European teams are getting smaller — where once it was France and Germany, now it is Belgium and Croatia.
Another problem of the conservative view is that it misunderstands the history it seeks to venerate. There is a widespread belief that Brazil’s golden age was the consequence of having the best players and sending them out to express themselves, without concentrating on such mediocre details as defence. Good mythology, bad history. Golden-age Brazil were extremely organised. They pioneered the back four, for example, and when it was first introduced at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden — still the only time they have won in Europe — they did not concede a goal until the semifinal.
Paving the way for the triumphs of 1958, 1962, and 1970 was a mentality with a remarkable open mind and willingness to experiment — a process in which non-Brazilian coaches made a significant contribution at the club level. Argentines and Uruguayans were important in the early years, and the 1958 team was given a push in its tactical efficiency by Ondino Viera, from Uruguay, and Bela Guttmann, from Hungary.
Thirdly, facts must be faced. With Tite stepping down after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after 6½ years in charge of the national team, there is not a single outstanding, or even strong, Brazilian candidate to take over. Brazilian coaches have been losing space at home, and there is no doubt as to the three most impressive coaches in Brazil over the last few years. Jorge Jesus, from Portugal, caused a sensation when he constructed a front-loaded Flamengo side that swept all before them in 2019. Another Portuguese, Abel Ferreira, has used a much more pragmatic approach, taking Palmeiras to two continental and one domestic title in the last three years. And Juan Pablo Vojvoda from Argentina has conducted a minor miracle on a much lower budget with Fortaleza, carrying them up the league and into the CONMEBOL Libertadores.
