RIO DE JANEIRO, (Reuters) – Forward Adriano and former World Player of the Year Ronaldinho were left out of Brazil’s World Cup squad yesterday as coach Dunga opted for a safety-first approach.
Dunga also refused to bow to pressure to call up Santos youngsters Paulo Henrique Ganso and Neymar, instead announcing a squad packed with defensive midfielders.
“Being conservative has brought results since the start,” said Dunga, who has won the Copa America, Confederations Cup and South American World Cup qualifying group in little under four years as coach.
“We’re not going to change everything in 15 days just because some people want us to,” he told reporters.
“We’ve created a winning philosophy in the Brazilian team. I ask the Brazilian fans to support us. It doesn’t matter if they don’t like me, but I ask them to support the team and be patriotic.”
Under Dunga, Brazil has turned into a counter-attacking team who base their game on physical strength and ruthless finishing.
Although it has often proved effective, the five-times world champions have lacked ideas when facing teams with packed defences, and during the qualifying competition were held to goalless draws at home by Bolivia, Venezuela and Colombia.