Brazil will look to banish those ghosts of the 2014 World Cup when they embark on another new era under Dunga starting with an international friendly in Miami against fellow South Americans Colombia.
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The game is set for a 9 pm ET (6.30 am IST, 2 am BST) start with live coverage on Ten HD and Ten Action in India. Catch the action via live streaming online HERE. Viewers in the US can watch the game on Bein Sports, with the option to live stream HERE. Brazil viewers will be able to watch their country play on SporTV, while you can also watch the game via live streaming HERE. Viewers in North Africa and the Middle East watch the match live online HERE.
A World Cup at home that started with so much promise, ended in the most worrisome manner, thanks to heavy defeats at the hands of Germany and Netherlands in the semifinal and third-place playoff respectively.
Those 7-1 and 3-0 defeats inevitably ended Luiz Felipe Scolari's reign as Brazil coach, with the federation deciding to bring in another former man back to the helm.
Dunga has his work cut out in trying to get the best out of this relatively limited Brazil side, and the first signs of just where the Selecao are headed will be seen in the international friendly against Colombia. "Dunga told all of us that we have to hold our heads up, put the past behind us, show our ability and that we deserve to be national team players," attacking midfielder Oscar told Reuters.
The new coach has made a few changes to the squad that collapsed so dramatically, with the likes of Fred, maligned for his performances in the World Cup, Jo, Dani Alves and Paulinho finding themselves left out, while Liverpool playmaker Philippe Coutinho, Miranda and Filipe Luis all of whom missed the final cut for the WC, are now back in the squad.
"I think we have to just think about winning, then the good football and the confidence will come quickly," said Filipe Luis, who made a switch from Atletico Madrid to Chelsea in the summer transfer window. "Then Brazil will recover our identity.
"Dunga has made some tactical improvements and he told us that we have to win and that we have to dream about being big players. His message was that to truly become big players you have to write a history with the national team. We have to start with winning against Colombia.
"The past is the past, we haven't to think about it anymore, we have to learn from it and make sure it doesn't happen again."
Of course, a friendly is after all just a friendly, and Brazil will only really be put to the test in the Copa America next summer; but the least Dunga can do with the two upcoming friendlies – the second one is against Ecuador on 9 September – is try and build back that confidence and belief which would have been seriously shattered following the mauling at the hands of eventual World Cup winners Germany.
Getting a positive result will not be easy, though, for Brazil with Colombia, a seriously talented team, looking for revenge from their quarterfinal defeat. Colombia were one of the more enterprising teams in the World Cup, with James Rodriguez, the man of the tournament until that last eight match, receiving some rough treatment from the Brazil players.
Neymar, of course, was also on the receiving end of a few frowned-upon tackles, including the one which ruled him out of the rest of the tournament, and hopefully, this friendly will showcase both of the teams' attacking instincts.
Colombia will be buoyed by the return of Radamel Falcao, after the striker missed the 2014 World Cup through injury. Falcao, a few days back, made a high-profile switch to Manchester United, and the 28-year-old will certainly be keen to find the back of the net for his country again.
