BBC SPORT | Football | Brazil boss faces exit

As the Brazilian players sloped off the field, those who gave interviews wondered about the effect that such a defeat might have on their careers.

But it is Luxemburgo who should be most worried. When he went to Rio airport to catch the plane to Australia he was questioned by officials investigating claims that the date of birth on his passport is false.

But problems leaving Rio are nothing compared to the hostility he will face on his return.

The legendary 1970 World Cup great Tostão is now Brazil's outstanding football columnist, combining clear expression with sound judgement.

"If in victory it was already difficult to put up with the arrogance, lack of transparency and ethics, laziness and serious personal problems of the coach," he wrote on Sunday, "it is not on to accept that he stays after two years of awful work and this historic disgrace."

It is not so much as a coach, but more as a human being that Luxemburgo has been found wanting.

When he was appointed there were concerns about his fragile temperament, but nobody imagined that he would prove so unable to cope with the considerable pressures of coaching Brazil.

Romario's exclusion caused a storm

"I come with the certainty that I will be victorious," he said at his first press conference in the job. The statement offers a glimpse into one of the recurring themes of his outlook - "I won, we drew, you lost."

Nowhere was this more inappropriate than with the Olympic team.

Winning the football gold medal has become an obsession for Brazil - it is the only trophy they have never lifted.

The demand that they win - in style, of course - is a heavy burden to place on an Under-23 team.

Brazil had planned to take the three permitted overage players, until Luxemburgo's old enemy Romário hit a run of form which meant that one of these places would have to be his.

So the goalposts were moved. No experienced players were selected, leaving the youngsters to cope with the pressure unaided.

The burden increased still further when it was freely speculated that only a victorious Olympic campaign would keep Luxemburgo in a job.

At the very moment that the players most needed the coach to transmit quiet authority they got the opposite - an uptight figure whose palpable tension affected his tactical judgement and made the task of the team all the harder.

It is no surprise that Brazil's young players were overawed by the occasion.

The fact that they had lost their heads against Cameroon was clearly seen when defender Lúcio, furious that he had not received a pass when well placed, responded by head-butting midfielder Roger.


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