Brazil’s 1970 World Cup winning captain Carlos Alberto thinks that Tite should take the captaincy away from Neymar when he begins to work with the Brazil squad in September. Previous coach Dunga gave Neymar the armband over and above Thiago Silva, who was eventually exiled entirely from the squad.
But Alberto, scorer of possibly the most famous World Cup goal in history, thinks that Neymar should be allowed to concentrate on playing rather than assuming the additional burden of being a leader.
“If I was the national coach, the first thing I would do would be to ask Neymar to have the humility to return the captain’s armband so the coach can choose another player,” Carlos Alberto said. “It does not suit him to be captain.
“Pele was never captain. Neither was Garrincha, or Ronaldo, Rivaldo or Nilton Santos. Why does Neymar have to be captain of the national team?
“It would be better to let him play and free him from the responsibility of leading the group. Leave him free to just think about playing football. He would do more for the team than he has done. I would leave Miranda as captain.”
Tite was asked the question by the press in his opening press conference as Brazil manager and he suggested that he would rotate the captaincy, as he had done at Corinthians, in order to instil collective responsibility and leadership.
Alberto further suggested that the CBF should make it clear that removing the captaincy is a decision of the federation as well as the manager, “In Dunga’s time, the national team did not have leadership either on or off the pitch,” he said. “Taking the armband away from Neymar cannot just be a decision for the coach.”