Brazil coach rejects trip to capital to avoid politicians
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) Brazil coach Tite pledged not to take the national team to the capital Brasilia to pose with politicians in this election year due to widespread accusations of corruption against several of them.
''I won't go at all. Neither before the World Cup nor afterward. Neither winning nor losing (the title),'' Tite, whose real name is Adenor Bacchi, answered TV Record in an interview aired on Saturday.
Since 1970, Brazil has a tradition of visiting the president before or after World Cups so players can receive medals of merit at the presidential palace.
Brazilian President Michel Temer's popularity is at single digits after a series of corruption allegations against him in recent months.
Temer has survived because the Chamber of Deputies rejected two requests to suspend him from office and put him on trial.
The Brazil general elections are in October.
Tite says he has no problem working under Brazil football boss Marco Polo del Nero, who has been suspended by FIFA after graft charges.
''I have total autonomy with the team,'' Tite said.
The Brazil coach, who took over after the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016, also said he was sorry for not having four years to prepare for the World Cup in Russia in June, but believes his relationship with the players was ''100 percent.''
