Ex-Coach of the Brazilian Football Team Mano Menezes Says Football Problems Are Structural

09/20/2016 - 11h44

The ex-coach of the Brazilian football team and current trainer for Cruzeiro, 54-year old Mano Menezes, believes that the country's football is suffering from structural problems.

He believes that the shocking defeat to Germany in the 2014 World Cup has increased the pressure placed on Brazilian coaches. At the same time, clubs have invested more heavily in foreign trainers, without the desired success.

"After the last World Cup, it was natural that we would begin demanding more of Brazilian football. And the brunt of that demand falls on the coaches. Many foreign trainers have come over, but still they have not managed to treat the problem. Not one of them has stood out. That makes it quite obvious that the problems are structural, and it's not a question of isolated factors," he said.

Mano believes Brazilian football's problems go deeper than that of just coaching. He says that, for example, the lack of consistency has been increasingly hampering performance over the last few years.

"It's imposible to make any real difference in three months. If I'm not mistaken, in the Brazilian championships we have just one team out of 20 that has kept the same coach until now [from the beginning of the year. He is referring to Santos, with Dorival Júnior]. This shows that we need to think differently. There are no miracles in football, we need to work hard, to make mistakes, learn from them, break the mould. This whole process will take two, even three years."

Translated by GILLIAN SOPHIE HARRIS

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	Luiz Carlos Murauskas/Folhapress
	Ex-coach of the Brazilian football team and current trainer for Cruzeiro, Mano Menezes