With a large black crucifix dominating a white background, the front page of O Globo's sport section was unequivocal. "Dunga's Selecao 2006-2008: Brazilian football, winner of five World Cups, communicates the death of Dunga's national team in Beijing, China. The Seventh-Day Mass will take place on Friday, 8 o'clock, in Shanghai Stadium. Please, do not send flowers."
Fifteen months on and the deceased is in embarrassingly rude health. No longer the inflexible novice of public disdain, Dunga is established as the unquestioned leader of a team who won 11 straight matches between April and September, the Olympic semi-final loss to Argentina that provoked notice of his demise exchanged for the 3-1 away vengeance that secured Brazil's place at the World Cup finals.
As at the last finals, Brazil have resumed their role as tournament favourites, yet almost everything else has altered. Ronaldo is long gone, Ronaldinho is a reserve, and there are just two survivors from the 2002 World Cup-winning side - captain Lucio and his deputy, Gilberto Silva. The team, as the latter puts it, "has a new face". Younger, more pragmatic, and guardedly confident of their chances.
"It is a team in which everyone is fighting for each other," explains Gilberto. "A team that will never give up. Just look at the Confederations Cup. You see the final against the USA - we had quite an easy game against them in the first stage and the final was really hard. But we turned the situation around because everyone fought. We have a quality and play with real intelligence."
Brazil were 2-0 down that evening in Johannesburg. Painfully aware of the ignominy that awaited if they ceded Fifa's World Cup warm-up tournament to the Americans, they refused to even let the final go to extra-time. Luis Fabiano scored twice, Lucio the 84th-minute winner, and the players' trust in their novice coach grew still further.
Advertisement
Dunga was a controversial choice to rehabilitate the Selecao from the horrors of Germany 2006. A belligerent holding midfielder, he held advisory positions at the J League club Jubilo Iwata and Queens Park Rangers in London since retiring as player but had never coached professionally. Just 42, he began his stewardship of the Selecao by dropping most of the World Cup squad, calling up a number of previously ignored talents from lesser European leagues, asking Kaka to re-earn a starting berth and making clear to Ronaldinho that a request to pick and choose his national team appearances was spectacularly ill-timed.
It was an abrasive, high-risk strategy, so when the 2007 Copa America was won without the required degree of élan and the Olympic side collected only bronze, Dunga's detractors demanded his sacking. "For any manager, it was not going to be easy to build up a team after the big depression of 2006," says Gilberto. "When he took charge there were so many people who did not believe in him - in the press, among other managers. Even though we won the Copa America the criticism was there, and many people on the outside were not optimistic about what we could achieve."
On the inside, though, Dunga's methods impressed. He offered every player an equal opportunity, easing their passage into the squad, shielding them from external criticism and promising they would be retained if they performed. "He's been very fair, honest with everyone and he's a very simple guy to work with," says Gilberto. "We have a nice person who supports us, who takes the pressure from us, but we know on the pitch we have to give something back in compensation."
Gilberto has become a symbol of the Dunga era. Prematurely cast aside by Arsène Wenger during Arsenal's 2007-08 League season, the holding midfielder bore heavy criticism as Brazil's World Cup qualifying campaign stuttered in 2008. How, his detractors asked, could a player be first choice for Brazil when he wasn't playing for his club side?
Clearly, what the team needed was more imagination in the middle of the park. Dunga suffered similarly after Brazil's early exit from the 1990 World Cup and refused to buckle. Gilberto accepted a transfer to Panathinaikos, principally to sustain his international career. "I really thank him for the trust," says the 33-year-old from his villa overlooking the Athenian coastline. "I missed a lot of games, but I think me and him have something in common as players. We've both been heavily criticised because we do a kind of job that people don't understand is very important for the team. We are like the middle of the engine, but they think that because you play for Brazil you must do tricks like Robinho, go past players like Kaka, score like Luis Fabiano. What really matters is when the manager trusts in what you can provide for the team - as a person and a professional."
Advertisement
When the yellow-clad engine warms up against England on Saturday, it will present a subtly different tone. Dunga's Brazil are a big, physical side, defending in the European style from front-to-back. They score frequently on the counterattack yet have not forsaken Brazil's traditional game.
"We have a mixture of many things," argues Gilberto. "Maybe a few years ago Brazil were well known for keeping the ball, for possession, nice tricks. We still play this way but now we can change our style during the game. We can keep the ball, then suddenly we change for the counterattack. It's almost like a killer instinct - we've got a chance, we score a goal.
"What's important now is to keep our focus on a very high level. In 2006 nobody said we would not reach the final. I don't know if we believed that, but maybe we relaxed a bit. We don't want to let this situation develop in the group. If we lose focus we are in danger again. It's what we are working to avoid." Hold the front page. It's Brazil who are in for the kill.