Former Brazil manager Mano Menezes has said that the team has stagnated following the arrival of Luiz Felipe Scolari for his second spell in charge of the team. After a run of poor results, it looked like Menezes was getting the team to function extremely well.

The introduction of several young players like Neymar into the first-team meant that Menezes had been requesting more time in order to gel the players. However, politics within the Brazilian FA meant that he was sacked just before the turn of the year and replaced by Scolari, who had earlier guided the team to World Cup success in 2002.

He is also the last Brazilian manager to have won the World Cup title. However, things have not been great in his second spell in charge of the national team, as the team has been extremely poor in the friendly matches played so far. They have been beaten by England, while they could only muster lacklustre draws against Italy and Russia. The only success for Scolari has come in the form of a 4-0 win over Bolivia. This has led to suggestions that he may be sacked even before the Confederations cup in the summer, although the Brazilian FA were quick to deny the rumours.

"We were reaching the final stage of a plan to play with the core of the players I evaluated during the time I was the national team manager. The manager that came after me have different ideas, so we have stagnated a bit. The next months will be important to see what we can expect from Brazil in the 2014 World Cup. We don't need to copy everything they do abroad, as that's not our essence, but what we are doing here is not enough to win a World Cup at the moment," said Menezes.