Brazil coach Tite extends contract until 2022 WCup
BRAZIL coach Tite has extended his contract until the end of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the national football confederation said on Wednesday.
Tite, 57, who has been in charge since August 2016, is the first Brazil coach to extend his deal after a World Cup since Claudio Coutinho in 1978.
His team was knocked out by Belgium in the quarterfinals in Russia earlier this month but, unlike other national coaches, he has received little criticism since arriving home.
Tite has a record of 20 wins, four draws and two losses at the helm.
Coordinator-general Edu Gaspar has also had his contract extended until the next World Cup.
Brazil’s next matches are friendlies on September 7 and 11 in the United States. The first is against the US, the second against a team as yet undecided.
The team’s next big tournament is the 2019 Copa America, an event it will host.
“The experience of this first cycle has established a relationship of trust among us all, and that will reflect in our next step,” Tite said in a statement.
“It is a great challenge and we are happy to face it, we are already focused on the next matches and tournaments.”
Brazilian football confederation chairman Rogerio Caboclo said the extensions were “part of a long-term project” that will give the team “careful planning” ahead of the next World Cup.
Tite took over as coach in June 2016 with Brazil languishing out of the qualifying spots for the Russia World Cup after a poor start under his predecessor Dunga.
Meanwhile, Japan named Olympic coach Hajime Moriyasu as its new national football boss yesterday.
The 49-year-old replaces Akira Nishino, who led the Blue Samurai to the last 16 of the World Cup in Russia in his two-month spell as caretaker coach.
Former Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann had been linked to the job, along with ex-Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, but the Japan Football Association went for a trusted insider.
Moriyasu, who will also maintain his current assignment as the coach of Japan’s under-21 team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, pledged to bring new blood to the top national side. “There will be generational changes. There will be integration of various generations of players,” he told a press conference.
Moriyasu was drafted in as an assistant to Nishino ahead of the World Cup after JFA chief Kozo Tashima abruptly fired Franco-Bosnian coach Vahid Halilhodzic in April following a poor run of form.
Japan went on to reach the World Cup knockout stage for the first time since 2010. It was knocked out in the last 16 after losing 2-3 to Belgium, having squandered a two-goal lead.
Moriyasu, a former Japan international midfielder, steered Sanfrecce Hiroshima to three J-League titles between 2012 and 2015.