It’s the 86th minute in Buenos Aires. Brazil defender David Luiz is fighting for the ball with Argentina’s Gaitan. Luiz stops, takes a sustained glance at his opponent, grappling for the loose ball and swipes his arm into Gaitan’s face. Gaitan overreacts, crumpling to the ground in faux agony. Nevertheless, it was a raised arm, one flailed in temper. Luiz is fortunate that the referee elects to only show him a yellow card.
However, it was to be a warning Luiz would not heed. Just 100 seconds later, the ball breaks loose on the halfway line and the second that Luiz shapes up to compete for the ball, you can see that he is going to be sent off, that his eyes are wide and his nerves gone. He lunges into Lucas Baglia and is deservedly given a straight red card.
Luiz, it must be said, has this in him. Not just a tendency to lose control, but he has a very pronounced nasty streak too. A talented footballer that seems to lack a brain. Dunga, a man who usually protects his players no matter the degree of indiscretion, was curt in his summary of Luiz’s dismissal. “It was a red card, he deserved to be sent off. We have no complaints.” This creates something of a quandary for Dunga.
The manager has already publicly lost faith in the man who used to be considered a leader under Scolari. In fact, he was made vice captain under Thiago Silva. He performed very badly in Brazil’s opening Copa America tie, a narrow, nervy 2-1 win over Peru. He was pulled from the starting line-up for the remainder of the tournament, his place taken by Thiago Silva, welcomed back in from the shadows by Dunga.
Dunga’s relationship with Thiago Silva was already strained. Silva’s tears during the World Cup and his refusal to watch his teammates engage in a penalty shootout did not sit well with Dunga. He interpreted it as psychological weakness and not only stripped him of the captaincy, but of his place in the starting line-up, preferring Miranda. But Luiz’s impetuousness saw Dunga extend the olive branch to Silva.
But Thiago Silva committed a brainless handball in the penalty area in the Quarter Final against Paraguay. His teammates remonstrated with him visibly on the pitch, in the run up to the shootout which saw Brazil eliminated. Silva has now lost his place in the squad and Luiz was welcomed back in. But after this latest indiscretion, Dunga might just be tempted to completely dispose of the two centre halves that were considered the finest centre-back partnership in international football just 18 months ago.
PSG’s Marquinhos is very much the future for Brazil in that position and in Miranda, he has a senior mentor. The Inter man is Dunga’s vice captain of choice, but the coach has often been uneasy about introducing youth into the side, especially in defence, where the likes of Dani Alves, Marcelo and Filipe Luis remain regular starters. He has opted for 23 year old Alisson in goal, but that may only further convince him not to make his backline any younger. In the short term, Gil will probably take Luiz’s place against Peru on Tuesday night, when Luiz is suspended. But having lost his head in Brazil’s biggest qualifier, in their moment of need, Dunga will be left to reconsider whether he can trust David Luiz to be a fulcrum of his team again.
