Ex-Brazil coach interested in Cranes job

By Fred Kaweesi

Part of the list of candidates

• Guiseppe Dossena (Italy)
  
• Kavazovic Nikola (Serbian)
  
• Tom Saintfiet (Belgian)
  
• Raoul Savoy (Spain)
  
• Tomislav Obradovic (Croatia)
  
• Momcilo Medic (Serbia)
  
• Stewart Hall (English)
  
• Vahid Halilhodzic (Algeria)
  
• Carlos Dunga (Brazil)

Cranes’ vacant coaching seat has continued to gather interest from a number of several high-profile managers around the world, with the latest attraction expressed by Carlos Dunga.

As of Saturday, former Brazil coach was among the list of over 20 candidates to have shown interest in assuming the top job that fell vacant following the exit of Scot Bobby Williamson on Monday.

The others include Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic (inset, right), who managed Ivory Coast during the 2010 World Cup tournament in South Africa. The consulate of the Italian national team believes his knowledge of African football will enable him prevail over the other candidates.

The 55-year-old has previously managed Ghana and was Cesare Maldini’s assistant coach during Paraguay’s outing at the 2002 World Cup.

With more applications expected to flock in, soccer governing body FUFA will have to decide whether to consider a low-profile coach that will grow with the team or opt for established figures in the mould of Dunga.

Dunga is still the head coach at Brazilian club International but the mouth-watering opportunity of managing a national team -as promising as Cranes -is one that he might have found tempting.

“To work with me, you have to be committed, you have to have the will to win,” Dunga told reporters after being presented by International last year.

Dunga managed Brazil between 2006 and 2010.

He succeeded Carlos Alberto Parreira after the 2006 World Cup and won the Copa America one year later, followed by the Confederations Cup in 2009.

Under his leadership, Brazil developed a physical, counter-attacking-based game which was unpopular with many fans and their World Cup campaign ended with a 2-1 quarter-final defeat by the Netherlands.

As a player, Dunga was a feisty, defensive midfielder with a spiky hair cut through his club career stints at Corinthians, Vasco da Gama and Santos (Brazil) Pisa, Fiorentina and Pescara (Italy) and Stuttgart in Germany and Japan’s Jubilo Iwata.

Dunga captained Brazil to the World Cup title in 1994 and inspired them to second place four years later in France.

Can FUFA afford Dunga?

Ideally, FUFA will look to Dunga as the biggest prospect but might be limited by finances to facilitate him, considering the fact that FUFA had previously struggled to facilitate Williamson’s reported sh30m-a-month wages, sh3m bonuses and sh4m housing allowance through his final three years.

The bottom line is that FUFA will need government support if any high-profile coach is to be hired for the vacant seart.

There are also a number of local coaches that have shown interest in the job.

Cranes are expected to regroup later this month in preparation for their three 2014 World Cup qualifying matches against Liberia, Angola and Senegal.

They will also face Tanzania in a two-leg Africa Nations Championship playoff in July.