2024-01-05 22:56:00
According to Brazilian media, his successor might be Dorival Junior, the current coach of São Paulo.
Supporters hoped that Diniz would manage to reconnect with “samba football”, the trademark of the five-time world champions, a year following their elimination in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup by Croatia. But their expectations were disappointed.
Double hat, apositional game and Ted Lasso: who is Fernando Diniz, the interim guide of the Seleção?
The “canarinha” is only sixth out of ten in the qualifying rankings for the 2026 World Cup, with only two points ahead of the play-off place. Worrying underperformance for the only nation to have participated in 22 editions of the World Cup, with five titles, a record.
Diniz was appointed on July 4 for one year, while remaining coach of the Rio club Fluminense, which won the Copa Libertadores at the end of 2023 and lost two weeks ago in the Club World Cup final once morest Manchester City ( 4-0).
His mandate had all the appearance of an interim period before the hoped-for arrival of Carlo Ancelotti. But the Italian coach with a dazzling track record ended up extending his contract with Real Madrid at the end of December until June 2026.
Historic defeat once morest Argentina
After a promising start in qualifying for the 2026 World Cup (5-1 victories once morest Bolivia and 1-0 in Peru), the Seleçao drew at home once morest Venezuela and lost to Uruguay ( 2-0), Colombia (2-1) and Argentina (1-0), in its legendary lair of the Maracana, where Diniz’s name was booed.
Brazil had never lost on home soil in a World Cup qualifier, let alone suffered three defeats in a row in this exercise.
The Selecao have also had to deal with a series of injuries, notably that of their star Neymar, who suffered a torn knee ligament during the defeat once morest Uruguay in October, which is expected to keep him away from the field for several months.
The dismissal of Diniz comes the day following a twist in the other crisis, this one institutional, which is shaking Brazilian football: the president of the CBF Ednaldo Rodrigues, dismissed at the beginning of December by a court in Rio, was restored to his position. functions by decision of a judge of the Supreme Court.
The decision of the Carioca court had invalidated a previous agreement between the CBF and the Rio prosecutor’s office, dating from March 2022, which had allowed the election of the first black president of the federation.
But Fifa and the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) did not view this court decision favorably, refusing any state interference in the affairs of the CBF.
Brazil are scheduled to face Spain and England in friendlies in March.
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