Dunga delighted after Brazil’s win and Neymar performance

Brazil boss Dunga was quick to express his delight, after his brilliant Samba Boys, who are 10/1 to win the 2018 World Cup, dismantled Japan 4-0 in a friendly match, with Barcelona star Neymar grabbing all four goals.

A World Cup winner in the USA as a player in 1994, Dunga admitted that he made changes, eluding to the fact that he didn’t play with an out-and-out striker in the second half. “I tinkered with the lineup today as I wanted to see how we played without a striker in the second half,” he said.

“I did this because Neymar picked up a cold after the match in China and I thought it would be better to give him freedom and let him concentrate only on scoring goals. All the formations seem to suit this team as I like to try different things. Even at the end when we had no strikers, it worked well.”

Dunga also said not to make too much of the victory over a relatively inexperienced Japan side, though touched on the performance of Neymar, who has now racked up 40 international goals in just 58 caps.

“We have told him he still has a lot of areas where he can improve,” added Dunga. “Now that he is captain he has more responsibility and status in the Brazil team. He has responded well to this yet still looks like he is playing with his friends. We still want to see him play even better.”

The 50-year-old coach admitted that he is pleased with attitude that his team have shown in 1-0 wins over Colombia and Ecuador as well as their recent friendly win over Argentina.

“The way we played these two matches shows that the team is in the right frame of mind,” he continued. “We beat a competitive and world class Argentina side and a Japan team that did not have jet-lag like we did. I thought we were very professional in both matches with players out to prove they already want to be considered for the next World Cup.”