Brazil are out of the Copa America, and Dorival Júnior might be the one who has to pay.
The 62-year-old journeyman coach was a last-minute appointment by the Brazilian FA after they missed out on Carlo Ancelotti, but he had a tough time at his first tournament.
O Seleção were knocked out on penalties by Uruguay at the quarter-final stage and have just one win in five games, while national legend Ronaldinho has said they’re too boring to watch.
If that wasn’t enough to put Dorival’s job at risk, footage of the team ahead of their shoot-out defeat has done him no favours at all.
The players were in a pre-match huddle and it appears as though Dorival was trying to get involved, looking for an opening and putting up a finger to draw some attention.
Contrasted to Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa in full control of his team’s penalty preparations, the images certainly don’t look good, but Dorival has dismissed the floods of criticism.
“Interpreting a photograph without consulting a professional was totally careless,” he said. “Those who expressed an opinion should think long and hard before talking about a professional.
“If there is no respect in this sense, I should be seen as a family man, a professional above all, who respects everything and everyone, and this is for those who say that I was not respected.
“I regret the situation, I am upset, but it is a temporary situation for a professional who has already experienced many things.
“In all the penalty shoot-outs I’ve been involved in, I’ve never been in that circle of players. Everything we did was preparatory and before the match. At that moment, I don’t need to say anything. Unless I notice a difference, a difficulty, a problem, a sudden change… But that wasn’t the case, everything was already discussed.
“In the last minute of the game we already decided who the kickers would be. I usually stay quite far away. If you look at images from other games, you can see that I’m not going to go there. It’s the player’s moment, theirs for them. I don’t like to participate and I avoid it.
“I’m sorry, but what they did was absurd, all the controversy over a simple photo.”
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