A draw with Argentina proved disappointing for Brazil fans who jeered Dunga in the home game.
In the first 2010 qualifier between the world’s top-ranked teams, Brazil and Argentina struggled to unlock each other’s defense. It took until the second half for each side’s tiring defense to show cracks, and Argentina produced the best chances.
Julio Cruz hit the crossbar and Lionel Messi forced Julio Cesar to parry a shot in injury time then put the rebound over the net.
Brazil was under the most pressure after losing a friendly to Venezuela this month for the first time ever, then falling 2-0 on Sunday to Paraguay, which leads the South American standings.
The result meant they climbed back into the fourth and final qualifying place in the South American qualifying group for the 2010 World Cup.
Brazil’s Manchester United midfielder Anderson had to leave the field after twisting his knee.
Brazil are in the middle of a miserable run of form, having lost to Venezuela for the first time ever earlier this month in a friendly and followed that up with a 2-0 defeat by Paraguay, who lead the South American standings, on Sunday.
However, keeper Cesar was satisfied with the result against Argentina.
“We played a great team with a lot of experience,” he said. “We played completely different than we did against Paraguay – we played a great defensive game but just couldn’t get a goal.”
The crowd lost patience with Dunga in the second half, chanting “Goodbye Dunga” at one point and “Donkey, donkey” when he replaced Adriano with Luis Fabiano.
Brazil: Julio Cesar, Maicon, Juan, Lucio, Juan, Gilberto, Gilberto Silva, Mineiro, Anderson (Diego, 33; Daniel Alves, 78); Julio Baptista, Robinho, Adriano (Luis Fabiano, 74).
Argentina: Roberto Abbondanzieri, Fabricio Coloccini, Nicolas Burdisso, Gabriel Heinze, Javier Zanetti, Javier Mascherano, Fernando Gago, Jonas Gutierrez, Juan Roman Riquelme (Jonathan Battaglia, 83), Lionel Messi (Rodrigo Palacio, 89), Julio Cruz (Sergio Aguero, 70).
