© Reuters 2002

By Brian Homewood
RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Brazil are due to visit South Korea for a friendly international next month but the five-times world champions are still without a coach.

The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) were expected to name an interim coach last Friday for the match, their second since the World Cup, but the announcement has been postponed to a new date which has not been revealed.

In the meantime, the media continues to speculate about who will take charge for the match and, more importantly, who will be named as the permanent replacement for Luiz Felipe Scolari early next year.

The CBF has already suggested that veteran coach Mario Zagallo, who was sacked after the 1998 World Cup for "only" finishing second, could be brought out of retirement to lead the team in South Korea as a "tribute."

Zagallo, 71, was involved Brazil's first four World Cup victories - as a player in 1958 and 1962, as coach in 1970 and as assistant coach in 1994.

He also coached the team in his own right at two other World Cups, leading them to fourth place in 1974 and the runners-up spot at France 98.

As for the long-term replacement, speculation is beginning to mount that the job could be handed to Vanderlei Luxemburgo, who was sacked in disgrace little more than two years ago.

The sports daily Lance claims that Luxemburgo is negotiating for what would be a hugely controversial return with the CBF and that he is already forming his national team staff.

HUMILIATING ELIMINATION
Luxemburgo's first stint began after the 1998 World Cup and ended in after the Sydney Olympics when his team were humiliatingly eliminated in the quarter-finals by nine-man Cameroon.

Luxemburgo had already been under fire for previous poor results and for using too many players.

The heat was turned up further when a former business associate accused him of taking commissions on the sale of players when he was a club coach earlier in his career.

Shortly after being fired, Luxemburgo became one of the central figures in a Congressional investigation into alleged corruption in Brazilian football.

A commission of inquiry grilled him over his tax returns, told him that his income - more than $9 million in five years - was not compatible with his profession and said that his explanations had not been satisfactory.

Luxemburgo also admitted that he had used a fake birth certificate, which knocked three years off his real age and changed the spelling of his first name to Wanderley instead of Vanderlei, for most of his career.

He returned to coaching in early 2001 with Corinthians, the team he led to the Brazilian championship title in 1998, and later moved to Palmeiras but this year became bogged down in more controversy.

Luxemburgo was accused of behaving unethically after he walked out on Palmeiras after only two matches of the Brazilian championship to join Cruzeiro, then admitted he had negotiated behind the backs of his old club.

His record at his new club does not inspire much confidence, either. Cruzeiro have slumped to 18th in the 26-team Brazilian championship and are only two points clear of the relegation zone.
(C) Reuters Limited 2002.