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Brazil confederation confirms Tite as coach

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AFP Rio de Janeiro
Brazil's football confederation (CBF) confirmed on Twitter the appointment of Tite as the new national team coach.

The news was first revealed by his former club Corinthians on Wednesday of last week.

"Tite is the new coach of Brazil," said a simple statement on the CBF Twitter account ahead of a press conference to introduce the 55-year-old.

"The objective is qualification for the World Cup," said Tite during the press conference.

Brazil currently sit outside the CONMEBOL qualification positions after winning just two of their first six games in the World Cup 2018 qualifying competition.

"We're not in the qualification zone. Of course there's a risk, if we don't accept to see the risk, we're fleeing reality.
 

"I'm here because the results aren't. But there has been quality in the work that's been done."

Brazil are only one point outside an automatic qualification position and have only lost once in qualifying.

Although they are down in sixth, there are still 12 games left and plenty of time to make up the difference in an increasingly competitive qualifying tournament in which seventh-placed Paraguay are only four points behind leaders Uruguay.

Corinthians president Roberto de Andrade had broken the news of Tite's appointment last Wednesday, saying: "Tite no longer works at Corinthians. He accepted the invitation from the CBF."

Tite succeeds Dunga, who was sacked following Brazil's dismal group stage elimination from the ongoing Copa America Cenetnario in the United States.

That came just two years after their humiliating 7-1 defeat to Germany in the World Cup on home soil.

Tite will take over after the Rio Olympics, where the Selecao will be coached by Micale, the current under-20s national team boss.

Tite -- whose real name is Adenor Leonardo Bacchi -- had been widely touted as the successor to Dunga after the CBF sacked him and his entire staff on Tuesday last week.

Tite has coached a string of top clubs in Brazil, including Gremio, Atletico Mineiro and Palmeiras, as well as Al Ain and Al Wahda in the United Arab Emirates.

He has spent three trophy-studded stints at Corinthians, leading the Sao Paulo club to two Brazilian league titles, in 2011 and 2015, and the Copa Sudamericana in 2013.

In 2012, he coached them to a double of the regional Copa Libertadores and Club World Cup.

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First Published: Jun 21 2016 | 10:22 AM IST

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