Who is Fernando Diniz?

The Athletic describes Diniz as an iconoclast. Coaches like Tuchel and Pep refer to his footabll as chaos, even a dice roll. With this, Brazilian soccer players and coaches back him, supporting his style of play. So who exactly is the new Brazilian National interim coach? And why does his football matter?

Between the years of 1993 and 2008, Diniz played throughout several divisions of Brazilian football. Immediately after retirement, Diniz started his coaching career with Votoraty, a lower tier club in São Paolo. Since 2009, Diniz has worked with 13 different clubs in Brazil. Although Diniz has not always amassed every trophy and accolade, it is his methodology and influence on style of play that grabs everyone’s attention. He is, most recently, known for his work with Fluminense FC, exemplifying themes of short passing and tight movement off the ball on one side of the field. A visit to the Maracanã last year, and one might just witness the strangeness on the field. Those players rocking the classic maroon and green jerseys sprint towards the ball in possession, playing around players in tight spaces, like it were a small sided pick up game, with no real intention to expand their spacing while having the ball.

Now, the Brazilian National team, five time World Cup winners, have been instructed to do the same on the pitch. A playing style that contradicts every top coach competing in Europe, a style that opposes any intention for order and tactics within positional play, Diniz is telling the best players in the world to do exactly what we forbid our players from doing. This type of football is a raised eye brow, and a scratch on the head, to the winger that has been instructed to stay wide to receive a ball in open space.

While it is clear that this “football relativity” opposes the status quo of positional play, it is, at the same time, soooo Brazilian.

Allow me to expand.

When I think of Brazilian soccer, I think of creativity, and fluidity. I think of Robinho hitting a tamborine on his way out of the national team bus. I think of Ronaldinho sliding his shirt off his neck for a Joga Bonita commerical, all while keeping that ball on his back. I think of players laughing and having fun, una pelada in the streets. Could it be that Diniz's style is the return to the past that this team needs? Could this unique style of play turn out to be effective for Brazil and succeed in tugging opponnets out of shape? Diniz, who holds a degree in psychology, is known to have said, "human dimensions are more important than tactics." Now this experiement of player freedom and interpretation versus organization and structure is taking place on the world stage of international football. And while Diniz's position will end in the summer, (that’s right, Carlo Ancelotti has already committed to taking on the Brazilian national team before their Copa America spell in June), Brazil have already smashed Bolivia and Peru.

Of course, we can make the argument that Brazil can beat those teams with a training manikin as their coach, but football is fun to watch under Diniz. This is why we watch. As fans, we love to win, and bite our nails at the idea of losing. And then, there is everything that happens in between these goals, in the patterns of play and the beautiful combinations players manage to string together in the direction of that net. Diniz is doing more than influencing a team, he is inspiring a country.