“Surviving for long in a country that has 200 million Seleção coaches is impossible,” summarised Luiz Felipe Scolari of what many deem the most demanding job in football.
Surviving under the scorching scrutiny of the gluttonous Brazil fans is, indeed, akin to surviving in the Lut Desert. Winning, to Brazilians, simply isn’t enough. You need to win with immeasurable swagger.
Mario Zagallo was A Seleção’s eighth coach in the five years leading up to Mexico 1970. Carlos Alberto Parreira was their fourth appointment in little over a year in 1991. Scolari became the fourth in nine months ten years later. Only one man in history – Flavio Costa, who was in charge between 1944 and ’50 – has spent over five years in the canary-yellow chair.
A man who is not only surviving, but thriving in the proverbial poisoned chalice in set to double that statistic. Tite has won 38 and lost just four of 52 matches. He’s unbeaten in his last 21 FIFA World Cup™ preliminaries, winning 16 of them.
The 59-year-old has masterminded Brazil’s best-ever start to a World Cup qualifying campaign, eclipsing the figures Junior, Socrates, Zico and Co set in 1981. And fundamentally in a land where, to many, futebol-arte is as paramount as three points, he’s keeping the insatiable satiated.
Tite took time out from his hectic schedule – he watches and analyses matches with the regularity other Brazilians drink coffee – to chat to FIFA.com about the upcoming clashes with Colombia and Argentina, Diego Maradona, Neymar, Philippe Coutinho and Alisson, his admiration of Roberto Mancini’s Italy and Kevin De Bruyne, and why he took a year out from coaching to study the beautiful game.
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