Brazil’s soccer confederation will not renew the contract of national coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, local media reported yesterday, after the five-time World Cup winners were mauled by Germany in a humiliating 7-1 defeat on home soil.
News of Scolari’s fate broke just after midnight on Sunday, hours after Germany defeated Argentina 1-0 in Rio de Janeiro to win the World Cup final.
Brazilians had long been hoping that they would be playing in the final and would win the tournament.
On Saturday, speaking after Brazil lost the tournament’s third-place playoff 3-0 to the Netherlands, Scolari said that he would let the confederation (CBF) decide his future.
The Netherlands defeat came after Germany crushed Scolari’s Selecao 7-1 on Tuesday last week at the Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte.
That defeat was Brazil’s most devastating performance since losing the 1950 World Cup final to Uruguay in Rio de Janeiro, a black mark on the nation’s psyche known as the Maracanazo.
The CBF also fired the whole technical committee, including technical coordinator Carlos Alberto Parreira, local media reported.
Parreira had managed Brazil to a World Cup victory in 1994.
Scolari, 65, best known by his nickname Felipao, led Brazil to a World Cup victory in 2002 in Japan. He took over the team in December 2012, replacing the sacked Mano Menezes, just before Brazil hosted the FIFA Confederations Cup.
Brazil won that tournament, seen as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup, 3-0 in a final over reigning champions Spain.
Brazil then began preparing for what they hoped would be a sixth World Cup trophy.
However, critics remained unconvinced by Scolari’s decision to ditch Brazil’s jogo bonito of skillful play, and focus on strength and rough tactics, arguing that results mattered more than an artful game.
Brazil emerged from the first round of the World Cup top of their group, but had to resort to penalties to defeat Chile in the round-of-16.
Once in the quarter-finals Brazil defeated Colombia 2-1, but in the rough game they lost their key player Neymar due to a foul that fractured the star’s vertebra.
When the Neymar-less team faced Germany it was clear within the first 30 minutes that they would not play in the final.
Brazilians will not easily forget the July 8 disaster, now known as the Mineirazo, an event that shocked Brazil supporters around the world.
Scolari accepted full responsibility for the humiliating thrashing.
“Who is responsible for choosing players? It’s me. The responsibility for the catastrophic results are mine,” Scolari told reporters after the Germany game.
The following day, Brazil captain Thiago Silva defended Scolari.
“The defeat was not Felipao’s fault. We are a group and although I was not on the field, I am part of that group,” said Silva, who missed the record 7-1 defeat due to suspension.
However Romario, a world champion in 1994 and now a Socialist lawmaker, said the problem was political and that the CBF must shoulder the blame.
One day after the semi-final thrashing, Romario said the CBF was plagued by corruption because clubs have elected the same leaders for years.
“Our football has been deteriorating for years. It is being dragged down by leaders who don’t even have the talent to juggle the ball,” Romario said in a letter posted on social media.
“They stay in their luxury box seats, enjoying the millions that go into their accounts,” the 1994 World Cup winner said.
He said the CBF’s octogenarian president Jose Maria Marin and his deputy, 73 year-old Marco Polo del Nero, who is due to take over in 2015, “should be in prison.”
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