Dunga Named Brazil's Head Coach. The Samba is Silent: Race and the Montreal Canadiens

Dunga was a hard tackling, defensive midfielder who was the antithesis of the Brazilian philosophy of free, improvised soccer. He was one of the first players to claim way back in the mid-1990s that demands by fans to expect Brazil to continue in the tradition of Ademir, Garrincha, Jairzinho, Leonidas, Tostao and Pele were possibly no longer tenable.

In my observations, Brazil hasn't come close to playing anywhere near its legendary reputation for quite some time. As I pointed out in earlier posts during the World Cup, Brazil plays much more defensively now. Cafu, Emerson, Zé Roberto, Lucio and Adriano are more in the European mold than anything.

In 1994, they were a talented squad but hardly dominating. They needed penalty kicks to beat Italy. In 1998, more of the same only the cracks were more evident. France outshone Brazil at their own game. As did the Netherlands in the semis who also lost on - you guessed it - penalty kicks. Brazil won in 2002 in spite of themselves and a poor competitive field thanks in part to poor officiating that prevented Brazil being tested by Italy or Spain.

In 2006, soccer insiders and fans new (I picked them to progress no further than the quarters) it was the end of the line this time. While Brazil still produces outstanding talents like Ronaldinho and Kaka, they are more the exceptions than the rule. The rest of the squad play in the tradition of European soccer. Whether this is a good thing or not is up for debate. It does point to is that the Brazilian soccer system and development program has been under going changes. If people want beautiful soccer interpreted by a South America look no further than to Argentina. Often overlooked, Argentina has been a consistent purveyor of powerful and prolific soccer.

The notion of beautiful Brazilian soccer was based more on romanticism and marketing; more on myth than fact. Only interloping soccer fans who crawl out of hibernation every four years bought into this. It has become tiresome to listen to such fans (and journalists) who only watch (and write) who accord themselves expert status when offering their short-sighted opinions. Just to give you an idea, these 'fans' still thought Brazil played well in 2006.

The appointment of Dunga confirms that this trend will continue. Previous head coach Parreira employed realist tactics and was aware that you don't win points or win games for looking pretty. The Brazilian national press and fans were also attentive.

- The French-Canadian press in Montreal have been quite vocal in their discussions to have more French-Canadian players playing for the Habs. The question is often asked, "Should the Canadiens make more of an effort to have more Quebec born players in their line up?"

In theory, the answer is yes. In reality, it's simply not possible.

First, the Habs do not benefit from the territorial draft any longer along with master practitioners like Sam Pollock ensuring that the Canadiens drafted the right players. The Richard, Beliveau, Lafleur lineage has ended. It should have continued with Mario Lemieux but it didn't.

The landscape is different now. Second, and more interesting, Quebec born players are reluctant to play for Montreal. Everything from language and pressure makes this place less attractive. While Toronto born players want to play in Ontario the opposite is happening with Quebec. It's a strange phenomena. Third, do the Yankees only draft players from New York? The Packers from Green Bay? Lakers from Los Angeles? What's more important is to develop and strengthen your farm system. In segregating yourself you only limit your options. The French media needs to come to terms with the fact that a) the Habs don't even draft well and have not been strong in identifying French players and b) no nationality holds a monopoly on talent.

The only sport that has teams that exist along nationalist lines is soccer. In Spain in particular, you have teams like Athletico Bilbao that will only draft and play Basque players. The price of course is eternal mediocrity. That's the choice they made and their fans accept it. Here in Montreal, we're a little less realistic. We want French players and we want to win.

A more practical model to follow is Barcelona. Barcelona is a Catalan-based soccer powerhouse but they go after the best players in the world as they did when they signed Gianluca Zambrotta from Italy and Lillian Thuram from France. Barcelona is an example of a squad keeping its identity but maintaining its standards of excellence by rooting itself in the modern realities of the sport.

The Montreal Canadiens operate in a similar environment only within a North American context. Habs management understand this but do the media and fans? Most do but bringing up the question is counter-productive and pointless. I can't think of any pro North American team that presently considers race when building their teams.