Copa America: Brazil sack Dunga after group stage exit

The Brazil FA have sacked manager Dunga after the country were eliminated from the Copa America group stages.

Brazil boldly sat Neymar out of the Copa America Centenario to make a push for Olympic Gold at Rio 2016, but that decision to rest star players will be costing manager Dunga his job as the former World Cup winner as a player has been sacked by his country’s FA for the second time.

Brazil’s Copa America run was a disaster as they began their group with a Nil-Nil draw to Ecuador before taking out minnows Haiti 7-1, but a 1-0 loss to Peru to send the South American giants out of the tournament was too much for the federation to ignore as Dunga has been given the blame for the country’s failure to reach the knockout stages in the United States.

Dunga’s first stint with the Brazillian national team was far more successful than his recent run as he won the 2007 Copa America title, the Confederations Cup and took Brazil to the quarterfinal round of the 2010 World Cup in South America. This time around Dunga had little success in Copa America as an exit to Paraguay in the 2015 tournament last summer and a group stage exit in this year’s 100th-anniversary tournament were both failures under Dunga, who made several shocking roster decisions along the way to the two shock tournament exits.

Not having Neymar definitely hurt Brazil in this tournament, but the problems surrounding the national team have existed before Neymar was saved to play in the Olympics. The current decline of Brazil as a footballing power can partially be blamed on Dunga’s managerial style, hopefully with the right hire the iconic country can go back to playing the type of style that they are known for rather than continuing their recent reputation as struggling chokers in international tournaments.

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