Dunga and New-Look Brazil Side Ready for Centenary Copa America

Kicking off what looks like an impossibly packed international summer of football, comes the 2016 Copa America. The centenary edition comes right on the heels of last year’s tournament and a first title for an exciting Chile side which subsequently turned their manager, Jorge Sampaoli, into a man in demand.

One man apparently not in demand, at least not in the Brazilian press, is national boss Dunga. Following last year’s apathetic exit—for the second continental competition in a row—at the hands of Paraguay, whatever credit he had in the bank following the announcement of his second spell as head of the Selecao ship was extinguished with a frustrated whimper.

Take a glancing look at the Brazilian newspapers, however, and you would be hard pressed to know that the seven-time continental champions were about to embark on an international tournament.

With the Campeonato Brasileiro, the Brazilian national league championship, in its infancy after just four rounds, relatively little print space or air time has been given over to the centenary edition of the Copa America, being held in the United States for the first time.

Regardless, the pressure promises to be as intense as ever on the Brazil coach and his playing staff.

Discounting Confederations Cup crowns, merely a dress rehearsal for the following year’s World Cup, Brazil are without a major trophy since 2007—when they won the Copa America last—and the Olympic Games are just around the corner, a shade over two months away.

In truth, it is that tournament which remains forefront in Brazilian minds, as evidenced by the absence of Neymar, who will return later in the summer for the Olympics.

Despite being considered an amateur football tournament (it is under-23, with the right to three overage players), it is a title Brazil have never claimed, and something the five-time world champions appear increasingly obsessed with, especially since their humbling at the Mineirao during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in that ill-fated semi-final against Germany.

Nevertheless, it will be expected of Dunga and his cohorts to be challenging, although the 1994 World Cup-winning captain has been dealt an enormous blow with the absence of Bayern Munich starlet Douglas Costa due to injury.

Brazil’s path to the knockout rounds should be relatively straightforward. They open their account on Saturday against Ecuador, before taking on Haiti and closing the group against Peru.

Last Sunday, Brazil played a warm-up friendly against Panama and, in addition to the comfortable 2-0 scoreline and keeping in …

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