Dunga

Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri (born 31 October 1963), known as Dunga, is a Brazilian football manager and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder.

At the club level, he played for Internacional (1980–84, 1999–2000), Corinthians (1984–85), Santos (1985–87), Vasco da Gama (1987), Pisa (1987–88), Fiorentina (1988–92), Pescara (1992–93), VfB Stuttgart (1993–95), and Jubilo Iwata (1995–98).

Internationally, Dunga played 91 times for Brazil, scoring six goals.

His international career began in 1983 at the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Dunga captained the young Brazilian squad, winning the tournament against Argentina in the final.

A year later, he helped Brazil to win a silver medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.

Dunga then began reaching call-ups to Brazil's senior squad, winning the 1989 Copa América by defeating Uruguay at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

Dunga was a starter for Brazil at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, during which he was held responsible more so than his teammates for the team's worst campaign at a World Cup since 1966, after a lackluster tournament and the squad's subsequent elimination in the second round by arch rivals Argentina.

In the following years, he would be consistently targeted by Brazilian press due to his supposedly "thuggish" style of playing.

This period in Brazil's football history was called "Era Dunga", as according to fans and journalists, he symbolized the less-than-thrilling, slow, gritty, direct, and defensive style that the team had adopted in favour of a more exciting attacking style.

Dunga played the anchor role in midfield extremely effectively, due to his ability to break down play and subsequently start attacks with his passing.

Many other players in this position lunged into tackles and put themselves about, but Dunga rarely went to ground to make a tackle, instead using his anticipation and timing to win challenges and retrieve the ball.

Under his captaincy, Brazil won the 1994 FIFA World Cup and he lifted the World Cup trophy.

Along with Xavi, he is one of only two men to have played in a World Cup final, an Olympic final, a Confederations Cup final and a continental championship final.

He was head coach of Brazil twice.

Despite his infamous reputation, Brazil's new coach Carlos Alberto Parreira kept Dunga as one of the starting XI throughout the 1994 World Cup Qualifiers and finals.

Raí initially started the 1994 World Cup in the United States as the Brazilian team's captain, but after allegedly being held responsible for Brazil's poor performances early on in the tournament, he was eventually dropped altogether in favour of Mazinho.

Dunga took over the captaincy and went on to lift the trophy.

Dunga scored the third penalty kick in the shoot-out victory against Italy in the final, following a 0–0 draw after extra-time.

According to FIFA.com, the lack of attacking play in the final of the tournament against Italy was in part down to strong holding midfield play by Dino Baggio for Italy, and Dunga and Mauro Silva for Brazil.

Dunga retained the role of the Brazil national team's captain for the next four years until the 1998 FIFA World Cup, in which he participated, despite playing in the Japanese J. League, in what was considered to be a lower standard of competitive football at the time.

The 1998 edition of the tournament was notable for the tensions and lack of teamwork within the Brazilian side.

It was often visible on the pitch as demonstrated by the fact that Dunga got into a fight with teammate Bebeto in the first round match against Morocco, forcing the rest of the team to break them up.

Despite these difficulties, Brazil went on to reach the final of the tournament, where they lost 3–0 to hosts France.

En route to the final, Dunga scored his team's fourth penalty kick in the shootout victory against the Netherlands in the semi-finals.

In his first spell from 2006 to 2010, he led them to victory in the 2007 Copa América and the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, and to the quarter-finals of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, after which he was dismissed by the Brazilian Football Confederation.

On 24 July 2006, Dunga was named as the new national coach of the Brazil national team as a replacement for Carlos Alberto Parreira, despite the fact that he had no prior coaching experience at the professional level.

Nonetheless, he made an impressive start with Brazil, winning four of his first five matches.

Dunga's first match in charge was against Norway which was played in Oslo on 16 August 2006; the game ended in a 1–1 draw.

His second match was held against archrivals Argentina on 3 September at Arsenal's new Emirates Stadium in London; Brazil won 3–0.

On 5 September, Brazil then defeated Wales 2–0 at Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane ground.

They later defeated Kuwaiti club Al-Kuwait 4–0, Ecuador 2–1 and Switzerland 2–1.

Dunga did not just look for players at large clubs, but looked at the whole scope of Europe, finding individual talents such as Daniel Carvalho, Vágner Love, Dudu Cearense of Russian club CSKA Moscow and from local Brazilian clubs such as Corinthians, Flamengo and São Paulo.

In 2007, Dunga managed Brazil to their second-straight Copa América title by beating Argentina in the final 3–0, who were heavily favored to win against a weaker Brazil squad.

Dunga's squad also won the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa on 28 June 2009.

He was also head coach of Internacional in 2013.

His nickname is derived from the Portuguese translation of "Dopey", a dwarf from the Disney version of Snow White, and was given to him by his uncle due to his short height during childhood.

It was believed that he would be a short adult and the nickname remained in use even after he grew up and became taller.

Dunga was born in Ijuí, Rio Grande do Sul, of Italian and German descent.

He was appointed in 2014 for a second time, but Brazil's early exit from the Copa América Centenario led to his dismissal in June 2016.