Eric Ehrmann: Brazil’s Football Fandango: Can “Coach Dopey” Win the World Cup?
Parcells, Shula, Landry… some coaches get instant last name recognition. But in Brazil, where everybody’s on a first name basis, the coach of the Brazilian Football Confederation national team is Dunga. In English that means “Dopey” (one of the Dwarfs from the Disney classic Snow White) and that’s what everybody calls him, even president Lula. And Dunga calls the president by his nickname, which means “the squid,” because he has lots of ways to reach out. Imagine what Parcells might do if Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams called him out in the cabinet room with “Hey Dopey.” He’d probably grab a suitcase and throw it just like he did in a well-known TV ad a few years back. But Dunga, known officially as Carlos Bledorn Verri, is the people’s choice and a player’s coach — and he’s taking a selection of 23 of Brazil’s best to the World Cup in South Africa in June. Currently, but, 19 of them play for clubs further than Brazil. And while Dunga says “everybody gets a chance,” fans an
