Home » Brazil coach Dorival sees ‘progress’ despite poor form

Brazil coach Dorival sees ‘progress’ despite poor form

Brazil coach Dorival Jr said his team is making progress despite sitting fifth in the standings ahead of the World Cup qualifiers.

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Brazil making progress

Brazil will host Colombia in the capital, Brasília, on Thursday before heading to Argentina a week later.

The five-time World Cup winners have won only two of their last five games amid a series of poor performances.

The Selecao settled for back-to-back 1-1 draws against Venezuela and Uruguay in their last two outings.

However, Dorival is hopeful they will rediscover their identity and get back to the winning column.

“We are responsible for the team’s current form and for everything that has happened,” Dorival said.

“We are looking to recover in a competition that is getting harder every year and to get back to being consistent we will need to restructure ourselves once and for all and seek organisation to have a good defence and an efficient attack.”

“I would be more concerned than I am today if I didn’t see progress despite the latest results. We are trying to make corrections so that the next results can be different, but there is progress, even though many do not want to see it.”

No Neymar for Brazil

Brazil sit fifth in the standings with 18 points, one ahead of Paraguay and one behind Colombia and Ecuador.

Uruguay are second with 20 points, while Argentina lead the table with 25.

The top six teams are guaranteed a spot at the 2026 World Cup.

Meanwhile, Brazil will be without Neymar, who was ruled out last week with a muscle injury.

The Santos star had been set for a long-awaited comeback after more than a year recovering from a knee ligament tear.

Dorival remained tight-lipped on his team selection but praised Brighton & Hove Albion forward Joao Pedro.

“Regarding Neymar, it is only natural that we put all our efforts into building a team around a player like him,” Dorival said.

“It ended up not happening and I hope that he recovers soon.”

“Joao Pedro is very versatile, a forward that has been playing sometimes as a striker, others as a second forward.”

“He can be an asset, but we have options.”