Brazil open door to breaking foreign coach taboo

GBNEWS24DESK//

More than two decades since their last World Cup triumph and without a local consensus pick, Brazil are considering breaking an unwritten taboo: hiring a foreign coach.

After six years in the job, Tite left the Brazil post last month following the Selecao’s World Cup quarterfinal exit against Croatia.

Despite knowing for some time before the Qatar showpiece that Tite was leaving, Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) president Ednaldo Rodrigues still has not found a replacement.

Now he is widening his search.

“We have no nationality prejudices,” he said on January 17.

“We want it to be a respected coach who can bring a level of play worthy of the athletes. We want to do what Brazil have always tried to do: to be very attacking.”

Apart from England, who hired Swede Sven Goran Eriksen and Fabio Capello of Italy in the 2000s, almost no other major footballing nation has had a foreign coach in decades.

Brazil’s World Cup drought — stretching back to their dazzling triumph in 2002 with a three-pronged attack comprised of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo — has forced the record five-time world champions to cast the net farther afield.

There are potential Brazilian candidates, but none have garnered widespread support.

“We have good quality, but before we used to produce more coaches than now,” Luiz Felipe Scolari, the 2002 title-winning coach, said recently.

“The new generation … haven’t won enough trophies.”