Dunga names his squad for Brazil’s November qualifiers against Argentina and Peru on Thursday, with reports that his job hangs in the balance.
It is reported that the CBF are unconvinced by his ability to win big, competitive matches. Despite a 100% record in friendlies, Dunga’s Brazil have lost Copa America contests with Colombia and Paraguay and were defeated in their opening World Cup qualifier against Chile in Santiago. Last week Tite, whose Corinthians side are currently storming the Brasileirão table, publicly declared his ambition to manage the Seleção at some stage.
As such, the Argentina match in Buenos Aires in November takes on renewed importance for Dunga. It also takes on enormous importance for Argentina, who gathered only a point from their opening qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay. The albiceleste are likely to be without Sergio Aguero and Lionel Messi, both of whom are nursing injuries and unlikely to recover in time. Dunga will be incredibly relieved to have captain Neymar back from a four match suspension.
Neymar will be the most obvious squad addition compared to the October selection. It remains to be seen whether one of Ricardo Oliveira or Hulk will make way. Oliveira started and scored against Venezuela and continues to find the net for Santos. Hulk did not impress in a centre forward role against Chile. However, his impressive club form has continued with Zenit and he prefers to play from the left hand side in any case. The Brazil squad is hardly overflowing with forwards, there is an excellent chance that both Hulk and Oliveira could both keep their places.
Santos’ Gabigol and Palmeiras’ young forward Gabriel Jesus are in good form for their clubs too, but Dunga will likely leave them in the U-23 Olympics squad. Their integration with the full team probably won’t begin until after the Rio games. Besides which, Dunga is not much of a risk taker when it comes to youth. If he feels that his job is on the line, it’s unlikely that he will trust in youth. Liverpool pair Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino ought to be fit again. At least one will come back into the squad, though Dunga values the presence of the experienced Kaká in his squad and Santos’ Lucas Lima remains in peak form.
It is possible that one of Firmino, Coutinho, Kaká or Lucas Lima will miss out. Unless Dunga keeps faith with Hulk as a left wing option and PSG’s Lucas Moura is considered expendable. There will be an enforced change at centre half, with David Luiz not likely to recover from the knee twist suffered in the defeat to Chile. Arsenal’s Gabriel looks most likely to backfill the vacant position in the squad, with Thiago Silva well and truly frozen out. Marquinhos will start alongside Miranda.
How Dunga configures his goalkeepers will also create intrigue. He will probably opt for the same three custodians, Jefferson, Marcelo Grohe and Alisson. Jefferson was dropped for the Venezuela match, following a shaky performance in Santiago, this despite injury to second choice Marcelo Grohe. Alisson wasn’t overly occupied against Venezuela, but did not exude confidence. With Corinthians’ Cassio performing extremely well, there is certainly some competition for the gloves. Jefferson will almost certainly be selected, but whether he will start when Brazil face Argentina remains to be seen. If Jefferson is displaced, who stands between the posts on November 12th will be a point of intrigue.
