Dunga’s frustration

FEATURE: As a player, Dunga was a passionate, uncompromising leader. Now as Brazil’s coach, he is becoming more and more frustrated that the stars who pull on the yellow shirt today fail to share the same commitment.

Dunga is fighting one disappointment after another — injuries, player withdrawals, wranglings with clubs — as he tries to stir his increasingly unfamiliar band of players towards retaining the Copa America, which starts in just 10 days.

Brazil turned to Dunga after last summer’s lacklustre World Cup in Germany, where many of their main attractions failed to perform and France brushed them aside in the quarter-finals.

Control of the five-times world champions passed from the vast experience of coach Carlos Alberto Parreira — completing an unhappy third spell in charge — to Dunga, a fans’ favourite with no professional coaching experience.

Where vast technical and tactical knowledge had failed to deliver another, Brazil gambled that their Mr Motivator could instead get the best out of the Samba Stars’ finest.

After a promising start in 11 friendlies in charge, Dunga goes into the Copa America facing his first real test: to be crowned South American champions without Kaka (pictured right), Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Adriano, Lucio and, most the most recent defector of all, Ze Roberto.

The coach has tried to stay positive while watching his squad wither over the last few weeks, preferring to concentrate on the players who will be going to the Venezuela tournament, but he has been unable to bite his tongue at the latest withdrawal from his squad.

Just hours after being picked in the 22, Ze Roberto retired from international football, saying he was leaving Santos, the Brazilian club he had joined 12 months previously, to return to action in Europe.

The 32-year-old midfielder (below) blamed his homeland’s insecurity, saying he feared his family would be kidnapped if he stayed. It is thought the 32-year-old has lined up a return to Bayern Munich, to replace Owen Hargreaves, with the German club putting pressure on him to quit Brazil.

But Ze Roberto’s claims carry little weight with Dunga.

“The Sao Paolo press insisted I pick Ze Roberto,” said the coach. “Now he comes with kidnapping stories. Has kidnapping just started in Brazil? Was there none when he returned to Brazil after the World Cup?”

At least Dunga has been able to call up a recongnisable player — Julio Baptista — with good calibre to replace him. Much of the rest of his squad have few caps. Striker Afonso Alves, playing in Holland after failing to make the grade in Brazil, is barely even known in his homeland

While the Ze Roberto disappointment was belated, it followed the withdrawals of Brazil’s two biggest stars.

AC Milan maestro Kaka and Barcelona star Ronaldinho both asked to rest this summer rather than pitch up in Venezuela. Kaka’s absence gives Manchester United new boy Anderson a chance to shine, while Afonso Alves profits from Ronaldinho’s decision.

The lack of recognised firepower puts more pressure on Robinho. But just as Dunga begins training for the Copa America, the most notable absence will be the Real Madrid striker.

Under pressure from Real Madrid, Brazil have allowed the 22-year-old join to play in his club’s crucial final league game on Sunday, forcing Robinho to do some continent hopping so close to the start of a major international tournament.

Full back Dani Alves (right) is also likely to be allowed to turn out for Sevilla in the Spanish Cup final on June 23, just four days before Brazil’s tricky Copa America opener against Mexico.

Any other team would be crushed by such upheaval, but Dunga remains positive that his team can emerge from a group of death, which also includes Chile and last summer’s World Cup entertainers Ecuador.

“From now, we have to only speak of the players who are here,” said the coach. “We have Gilberto Silva, Gilberto, Juan — players who disputed the last World Cup, athletes of high level and experience, who can be our leaders.”

Just five players from Germany 2006 will travel to Venezuela and from this depleted pool of experienced players, Gilberto Silva has been chosen to skipper the side.

The Arsenal midfielder said: “It is good to receive Dunga’s support. To be captain is a natural consequence of my work. I am already captain of my club and I bring this experience here.”

Dunga, who captained Brazil to World Cup glory in 1994 and to the runners-up place four years later, hopes Gilberto Silva will prove as inspirational a leader this summer.