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Make way for 'Big Phil' Scolari cited to replace Brazil's Luxemburgo as coach
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- The Brazilian Soccer Confederation has decided to fire Wanderley Luxemburgo as coach of the national team and replace him with Cruzeiro coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, Brazilian media reported Tuesday. Confederation President Ricardo Teixeira, who was to leave Australia for Brazil on Wednesday, planned to make the announcement in Rio on Friday, newspapers O Globo and Zero Hora reported. The decision was reportedly the result of Brazil's disastrous showing in the Sydney Olympics. Considered favorites to win the gold medal, the Brazilians played poorly and barely made it to the second round, where they lost to Cameroon 2-1 in overtime when they held a two-man advantage. Scolari declined to comment on the report, but Luxemburgo denied he was on the way out and said he would be at the helm for Brazil's upcoming World Cup qualifying game with Venezuela on Oct. 8. "From what I discussed with President Ricardo Teixeira, I direct the team against Venezuela and up to the World Cup," Luxemburgo told reporters at Sao Paulo's Guarulhos International Airport, where he arrived late Tuesday. "The World Cup project is still on," he shouted over a chorus of boos and jeers from onlookers. Still, if his dismissal is confirmed, it comes as little surprise. Pressure has been mounting for months to replace Luxemburgo, who has failed to repeat with the national team the success he enjoyed on Palmeiras, Corinthians and other clubs. Luxemburgo took over the national squad from veteran Mario Zagallo in 1998, shortly after Brazil lost 3-0 to France in the World Cup final in Paris. After winning three national championships in six years -- two with Palmeiras and another with Corinthians -- he was the consensus pick to renew and revamp the team. When Brazil won the Copa America in 1999, it seemed he was on the right track. But the team never lived up to its promise and seemed to go downhill from there. Injuries to star strikers Ronaldo and Amoroso led to endless experiments to find replacements, none of them satisfactory. Luxemburgo appealed to veteran fullback Aldair to return to the team -- them abruptly dismissed him when he blew a play in a qualifying game against Uruguay for the 2002 World Cup. The low point came in August, when the team lost 3-0 to Chile in a World Cup qualifier. Brazil, the only country to qualify for every World Cup, is in fourth place in the South American standings and is far from assured of a berth in 2002. Luxemburgo also has been plagued by off-field problems. A former business associate, Renata Moura Alves, told police that Luxemburgo evaded taxes and ran an illegal scheme selling soccer players and buying apartments and cars with the undeclared profits. Luxemburgo has denied the accustaions. He also is suspected of misrepresenting his age on ID papers, possibly to qualify for youth tournaments when he was a player. Newspapers have published copies of two ID cards for Luxemburgo listing his age variously as 45 and 48. Scolari, a gruff authoritarian known as "Felipao," or "Big Phil," gained national projection as coach of Gremio, where he won the Copa Libertadores in 1995 and the Brazilian national championship in 1996. He then moved to Palmeiras, winning the Copa do Brasil and the Copa Mercosur in 1998 and the Libertadores in 1999. Palmeiras also was a finalist in the Brazilian championship in 1997; the Copa Mercosur, the Copa Intercontinental and the Sao Paulo state tournament in 1999; and the Libertadores this year.
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