Dunga set for Brazil; Gerrard ends England career

RIO DE JANEIRO — Media reports have claimed that Carlos Dunga (picture) will replace Luiz Felipe Scolari as coach of Brazil’s national football side following their record-breaking loss at the World Cup earlier this month, reported Bloomberg.

Dunga, who coached the record five-time World Cup winner at the 2010 World Cup, where they were eliminated in the quarter-finals, will be appointed as Scolari’s replacement at a press conference today at the Brazilian Football Confederation headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, media including O Globo and Folha de S Paulo reported.

Brazil’s attempt to win football’s biggest prize on home soil ended in humiliation on July 8, when eventual winners Germany secured a 7-1 victory in Belo Horizonte, shattering a number of records, including the one for Brazil’s biggest loss in the team’s 100-year history.

Dunga, 50, captained Brazil to a World Cup triumph in 1994, before being hired to coach the team in 2006 even though he had no previous management experience. He left following a 2-1 defeat to the Netherlands in the quarter-final of the 2010 tournament in South Africa amid criticism from former players and media for his team’s conservative and physical style.

Meanwhile, England captain Steven Gerrard, 34, has announced his retirement from international football.

The Associated Press reported that the Liverpool midfielder, who made 114 appearances for England over 14 years, had “agonised” over his future after the World Cup in Brazil, where England went out after the first round. He informed England’s Football Association that “this has been a very difficult decision, one of the toughest I’ve had to make in my career”.

Gerrard says his international retirement helps “ensure I can keep playing to a high level and giving everything to Liverpool Football Club”. AGENCIES