Singapore: Brazil coach Dunga has made a perfect start to his second stint in charge of the national side and on Tuesday's friendly win over Japan offered him plenty of reasons to feel that July's World Cup nightmare could soon be forgotten.
As hosts, Felipe Scolari's side bullied their way through to the semi-finals before a 7-1 humiliation to Germany cost the coach his job and left many observers believing the rebuilding job would be a long and painful process.
Dunga, who led the side from 2006-10, was handed the task of restoring respectability for the five-times World Cup winners and his spotless record in four matches since taking over and the form of mercurial forward Neymar suggests Brazil are already on an upward trajectory.
Neymar was brilliant in Singapore on Tuesday, wowing a pro-Brazil crowd of 51,577 as he reveled in a free-roaming role to score all four goals in a 4-0 thrashing for a dominant Brazil side that exuded confidence from the kickoff.
"I tinkered with the lineup today as I wanted to see how we played without a striker in the second half," Dunga told reporters, having already beaten arch-rivals Argentina 2-0 in a Beijing friendly on Saturday.
"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," Dunga added.
"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."
ADDED RESPONSIBILITIES
Dunga added that not too much should be made of the victory over an inexperienced Japan side also going through a rebuilding process but was full of praise for his talismanic striker, who took his international tally to 40 goals in 58 matches.
"We have told him he still has a lot of areas where he can improve," the 50-year-old coach added.
"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."
Dunga admitted he was delighted with his side's attitude on the short Asian tour and felt that following the 1-0 friendly wins over Colombia and Ecuador last month, his squad was showing a strong desire and hunger to revive Brazil's fortunes.
"The way we played these two matches shows that the team is in the right frame of mind," he said.
"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."
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