Tite Appointed New Brazil Coach as Brighter Future Beckons
The saga rumbled on and on. Following a three-hour meeting at Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) headquarters on Tuesday evening, Tite has at last been confirmed as the new Brazil boss (link in Portuguese), replacing the outgoing Dunga this Wednesday afternoon.
Quite what was being hammered out in finer detail was left unclear. However, it did seem faintly ludicrous as Tuesday evening wore on, and the worst-kept football secret in the land was still waiting to be made official.
Every few minutes or so, the Fox Sports Brasil studio cut to Barra da Tijuca and the CBF offices, only to be told, for the umpteenth time, that no, as far as everyone was concerned, Tite was still the manager of Corinthians and would take charge of the side's Brazilian league encounter with Fluminense on Thursday evening as normal.
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Almost 24 hours later, the man the public have courted since the FIFA World Cup in 2014 has accepted the position in what became a tug-of-war between club and country. According to Globo Esporte (in Portuguese), directors at defending Brazilian champions Corinthians were confident of keeping their man.
That would have left the CBF in no man’s land. According to the same Globo Esporte piece, there was no Plan B should Tite have decided to remain in club football.
The qualities he will bring to the job have been evident over the last five years with the Sao Paulo outfit. It is not only his ability to win titles, something he has done in abundance with Corinthians, arguably the biggest club in this gargantuan country, but also his triumphs with southern clubs Gremio and Internacional.
It is his capacity for making sides competitive, for rebuilding from the scraps at his disposal. It is no secret that in this corner of the world the instability of the club scene is complemented by the constant sale of young prospects and top players.
The most recent example occurred just a few months ago. On the back of storming their way towards the Brazilian league title, also on the back of an excellent second half to the league campaign last term, Corinthians promptly lost Gil, Ralf, Renato Augusto, Jadson, Malcom and Vagner Love. Half his team was ripped out.
Once again, the boss set about rebuilding a team capable of challenging at the summit of the domestic league table. Seven rounds into the 2016 league campaign, Corinthians are in fourth position, a mere three points off the summit.
And if ever there was a national side in need of restructure following the low-quality fare on offer during the Dunga 2.0 years, it is this Brazil team. Well known for his pragmatic style, since his second coming at Corinthians from 2014, the coach has looked to play a more expansive brand of football.
Tite knows how to drill a defence, but the kind of football Corinthians have been playing for over a year now is far from dreary, one-dimensional stuff. In addition, Tite has proved that he is adept at working well with younger players, including the likes of Malcom and the hugely promising Maycon, something that will bode well with the CBF as they look to bring through a younger generation of international players.
During his first spell in charge of the club, an expert defensive display helped the side to a 1-0 win over European champions. Despite winning the league and conceding the least goals, Corinthians scored less than the next six best-placed teams, from second to seventh.
At that time, he was perhaps considered a coach in the same mould as another Brazilian success story and great pragmatist, Muricy Ramalho. Ramalho made history in the Brazilian league, leading Sao Paulo to three successive league titles between 2006 and 2008.
He then went on to win the league in 2010 with an average Fluminense side, turning down the Brazil job midway through the season following Dunga’s quarter-final exit at the hands of Holland at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa (link in Portuguese).
It briefly looked like history was about to repeat itself.
Tite has no doubt developed and evolved his playing style since that first Brazilian league title at the end of 2011. Last season, his side won the title by 12 points, winning the most games, scoring the most goals and conceding the fewest.
For good measure, Tite won the Manager of the Year Award and heaped misery on city rivals Sao Paulo with a 6-1 thrashing towards the end of the campaign.
Perhaps most importantly, what Tite can count on having in his favour coming into the Brazil job is public support. It is an asset Dunga could rarely count on and even less so in his second spell in charge.
During his first stint, the coach enjoyed regular success. He won the Copa America in 2007, which remains the country’s last major title to date, as well as the Confederations Cup in 2009. He also finished top of the qualifying group for the 2010 World Cup and oversaw an excellent 3-1 win over bitter rivals Argentina in Rosario.
But his second spell has been nowhere near such heights. Aside from 10 successive friendly wins, the side has suffered a quarter-final exit at the 2015 Copa America and an embarrassing group-stage exit at the Copa America Centenario.
Meanwhile, the Selecao languish in sixth place in the World Cup qualifying group, outside the spots that would lead to them competing in Russia.
While the CBF’s reputation has been crashing and burning since the 2014 World Cup—not only has the side looked dire on the pitch, but former president Jose Maria Marin and current occupier Marco Polo Del Nero have been caught up in the corruption scandal surrounding FIFA—Tite’s stock has continued to rise.
Indeed, it would appear that Del Nero also believed that the CBF had erred in reappointing Dunga to the Selecao post. According to Globo Esporte (in Portuguese), Del Nero twice asked for Tite to take over the national job, in 2015, as well as in April of this year. Not before time, he has his man.
Tite’s appointment gives Brazil the chance to look to the future. Well accustomed to intense pressure, having been inside the Corinthians cauldron for the best part of the last five years, moving melting pots is hardly likely to daunt the seasoned tactician.
With the full backing of the public and the CBF, perhaps everyone will be pulling in the same direction at last. Brazil has been on the ropes in recent months, not only in a sporting sense, but politically and economically.
During times of strife, those famous yellow shirts have previously given the Brazilian public a welcome reprieve. Under Dunga, that was not the case, with his prickly temperament and inflexible team setup serving to only mirror the current malaise in Brazil.
Under Tite, that has the potential to change. The new coach gives the country’s football fans ample reason to hope.
That, for now, is reason enough to smile. Twenty-four months too late, the CBF have the most astute coach in the Brazilian game. Change for the better could be just around the corner.
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