Managing a country's national team at the international level is very different than managing a club team at the domestic level.
Your domestic club teams are together daily, and develop a level of cohesion that is very difficult to re-create with mini-camps leading up to an international match. I always think its funny when you see two international teams playing against each other, and you see players who are actually closer with their opposing club teammates than the international teammates that are playing next to them.
Tim Vickery of BBC Sport writes of how Dunga is the right man to turn Brazil's individuals into a cohesive unit in time for this summer's World Cup.
Seen as a stop gap when he was appointed after the World Cup in Germany four years ago, Dunga has taken his team to victory in the Copa America, the Confederations Cup and first place in South America's World Cup qualifiers. Many will dispute his methods but his results are beyond reproach - Brazil go to South Africa on a run of one defeat (and that at extreme altitude) and 18 wins in the last 24 games.
He had no previous coaching experience. But he did have experience in the threat that technological advance can pose to group spirit.
He was captain of the side that won the World Cup in 1994. "That team had something fundamental," he said. "It was a group that taught the country how to win. We went without for 24 years, with exceptional players, but unable to take that step. And that 94 generation did it, showing that work comes first."
Four years later in France the team never looked as solid, and fell apart in the final against the hosts. Quite apart from any technical or tactical deficiencies, Dunga acknowledged a small piece of technology played its part in their downfall - the mobile phone.
In 1994 they were almost unheard of in Brazil. By 1998 all the players had them. And so the outside world was continually allowed in, interfering with the focus of the group, undermining the process by which a team gels and the collective unit becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
Back in 94, Brazil's coaching staff were worried about Romario. The little striker was extraordinarily talented. But he was a born individualist. Could he be relied upon to tow the line, to be part of a team effort on and off the field over the course of an entire World Cup campaign? The fate of the entire endeavour was hanging on finding an answer.
The solution? Put Romario in the same room as Dunga. The combative midfielder helped keep him in line, and the rest is history.
It is also an inspiration for the present day. When Dunga took over as coach, one of his early moves was to stop the players having individual rooms. They should share, and they should bond.
This process seems to have taken place with enormous success. Players such as Elano and Robinho may have had problems with their clubs, but on national team duty they are seen as paragons of commitment, ready to carry out any role required of them. Dunga has been able to bring their talent into his project. They are part of his group.
It is for this reason that Dunga looks like holding out against a form of pressure traditionally exerted by the Brazilian media in the build up to the World Cup - the campaign for star names. Two months ago it was all about Ronaldinho. Now, Santos wonderkid Neymar is the peoples' choice.
But they are not part of his group - and Dunga can argue that individuals might win matches, but groups win titles. But the knives will be out if his group do not prove good enough to bring the glory back from South Africa.
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