Welcome to the new Dunga Era. Brazil rocked favored Argentina 3-0 to win Copa America, and hand its most despised rival a painful loss. Brazil stormed to a 2-0 lead by intermission and cruised home the final 45 minutes, a counterattack goal by Sevilla’s Daniel Alves putting the game away and giving Brazilian coach Dunga his first trophy.

Back in 1994 when the World Cup was held in the United States, Brazil fielded a team that was disciplined and defensive – basically, a team that was against everything Brazilians stand for when it comes to soccer. The Seleção took home its fourth World Cup title that year, in an exhibition that caused many Americans to not bother giving soccer a second glance since.

It was the Dunga Era. Now, with a victory over Argentina in the Copa America, Dunga, a defensive midfielder widely accepted as the heart of the 1994 team that included Romario’s gifted feet, has now officially ushered in Dunga Era II.

For Dunga, the victory culminates a rollarcoaster tourney that saw his every move questioned and analyzed by the Brazilian press, as his squad lost to Mexico in its opening match and never appeared to gel.

And while he was but a penalty kick by Uruguay away from seeing his job as Brazilian National Team coach disappear, the victory over arch-rival Argentina means his chances at making it all the way to the 2010 World Cup are infinitely better than they were just a week ago.

With a team that at some points appeared to be comprised of only defenders and defensive midfielders, Brazil took young Argentinean stars Leo Messi and Carlos Tevez out of the game, while taking advantage of their opportunities on the offensive end.

“This is the fruit of our hard work,” Dunga said.

Julio Baptista started the scoring for Brazil with a brilliant right-footer from the left just five minutes in, while for all intents and purposes, own goal by Roberto Ayala at the 40-minute mark was the score that ended Argentina’s dream of beating its South American rivals.

Argentina had gone into the game as favorites after playing brilliantly throughout the tournament, and with its full array of stars, as compared to Brazil, which was missing such top names as Ronaldinho and Kaka. The thorough beating by Brazil was not so much another heartbreaking loss for the Argentineans, as much as it is a national humiliation.

For Seleção, however, the team that was accused of not trying hard enough in the 2006 World Cup took home Copa America because they played harder and showed more heart than Argentina.

Welcome to Dunga Era II. There’s no telling how long it will last.

Bill Wolfrum resides in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil. His work also appears at Williamkwolfrum.com, Shakesville.com and WorldGolf.com.

UEFA Champions League semifinal, Leg 2, AC Milan 3, Manchester United 0

Notes on a scorecard:

Bill Wolfrum resides in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil. His work also appears at Williamkwolfrum.com, Shakesville.com and WorldGolf.com.

UEFA Champions League semifinal, Leg 2, Liverpool 1, Chelsea 0 – Notes on a scorecard:

Bill Wolfrum resides in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil. His work also appears at Williamkwolfrum.com, Shakesville.com and WorldGolf.com.

From Saturday’s issue of Brazil’s sports daily Lance! comes the rumor that the New York Red Bulls are looking into procuring the services of striker Edmundo from Palmeiras. The story says the 36-year-old would like to end his career with Palmeiras, where he’s had his greatest successes as a player, but could be swayed by a monthly contract of $80,000, and that should a deal be reached, Palmeiras would have no choice but to allow him to leave.

Nicknamed “Animal” for the often out-of-control temper that has hampered his career and seen him lose opportunities to play both in Europe and the Brazilian national team, Edmundo has created some of the most impressive scenes of havoc on a football field in South America, which is saying something.

From Wikipedia:

On October 30, 1994, when his former club Palmeiras was playing against São Paulo, Edmundo angrily tackled one of the opponents players with a sliding tackle and earned a booking. After that he ran towards São Paulo’s bench and physically attacked 3 players. He slapped the first one, knocked out the second one and kicked the third one in his groin. Later he explained that he went crazy because the players were disrespecting and talking bad things about his mother.

Edmundo is currently the leading scorer in the São Paulo State Championship with 11 goals, but has assumed a Romário-like style of play, and appears more than a step slow often, even against many of the state’s smaller squads. This week, Palmeiras was controversially dumped from the Brazil Cup by Minas Gerais-based minnows Ipatinga on penalty kicks, with Edmundo missing his attempt.

While rumors fly rampant often in Brazil, from this writer’s perspective, the possibility of the Red Bulls signing Edmundo would be at most a PR stunt, and at worst a massive waste of time, effort and money by coach Bruce Arena’s squad and the MLS.

Bill Wolfrum resides in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil, where he didn’t get to watch Verdão’s most recent game, as their opponent disbanded. Wolfrum’s work also appears at Williamkwolfrum.com, Shakesville.com and WorldGolf.com.

When you see supporters pushing for intelligent design and creationism to be taught in public schools, sometimes it’s easy to feel that science is on life support in the United States.

Nonetheless, a little bit of science could be what the U.S. National team needs to get to the next level in the international game.

On the latest episode of The Naked Scientist podcast, co-host Helen Scales relays how researchers have discovered a simple trick that should help goalkeepers stop penalty shots more often than the usual 18 percent.

“I still think it’s amazing you can stop any of them,” said host Chris Smith. “Because the ball could go anywhere in that large area.

Scales, however, points out that many soccer fans have had an idea that could be the difference should a game come to penalty kicks.

“Some soccer fans have apparently thought for a while that the goalie might be able to have some influence on where the (ball) is kicked, by basically standing to the right or the left of the goal,” said Scales. “And it turns out that they were actually right.

It seems Dr. Rich Masters from the Institute of Human Performance at the University of Hong Kong watched some 200 clips of goal kicks and discovered that the penalty takers were more likely to shoot toward the side of the goal that appeared bigger to them.

In Masters’ study, 96 percent of the time the keeper would stand to the left or the right of center by an average of 10 centimeters. However, Masters found that keepers were generally unaware of exactly where they were standing, and it made no statistical difference in which side they’d dive toward.

“This is such a high-profile industry, you’d have thought that, with people working for the salaries that they do, that they’d have thrown some science at this a long time ago,” said Smith.

Masters’ team came to the conclusion that for the best results, a keeper needed to stand between six and 10 centimeters to one side, and then dive to the other. Their results were clear – if keepers could keep their head about them and stand just slightly to one side so that it unconsciously registered with the penalty taker, the keepers would stop 10 percent more shots.

So while this may or may not equate to future success, one thing seems certain – we need to forward this information to Tim Howard.

Bill Wolfrum resides in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil, where he’s getting a little sick of Verdão’s aging former star Viola getting red cards late in home games to avoid taking road trips. Wolfrum’s work also appears at Williamkwolfrum.com and WorldGolf.com.

Following is the second post written by Bill Wolfrum (view all of Bill’s work here) for ThroughBall.com. I, for one, welcome our new blogging overlord.

It had been a harsh run for Barcelona. Winning just two of its previous seven matches, the team was coming off a league loss to Valencia, and a brutal 2-1 home loss to Liverpool in the Champions League.

All it took, of all things, was a trip to Zaragoza to perhaps straighten out a season that was rapidly appearing to be veering off course.

Starting a team sans a striker but loaded with attacking midfielders, Barcelona recaptured some of its magic from the previous two seasons, as goals by Xavi and Andres Iniesta were enough to hold off a late charge by Zaragoza, and push Barca into the next round of Spain’s national tournament.

It has thus far been a tough season for Barcelona, as injuries and ennui have sapped the team of its previous form.

Ronaldinho has had a most perplexing run, and still appears out of sorts and not near the player he was in the two years leading up to the 2006 World Cup. His weight has become an issue, as is a back-breaking schedule of playing and endorsement responsibilities that possibly have dulled some of the great Brazilian’s drive. Nonetheless, the 2004 and 2005 Player of the Year still is capable at playing at a mind-boggingly high level, and currently sits near the top of La Liga with 16 goals.

Returning from his foot injury, Leo Messi looked every bit the gifted superstar many expect him to become against Zaragoza, and his form could help push Ronaldinho back near the top of his game.

Messi’s magic should help the intensity level, and the return of Samuel Eto’o could be the final piece to give Barca a third consecutive La Liga title. The brilliant African has stewed some on the sidelines, but when he consistently takes his rightful place in the starting 11, all sins will likely be forgotten.

With a 3-0 blanking of relegation-aimed Athletic Bilbao previous to the win at Zaragoza, Barcelona now enters a brutal three-game run with consecutive games against Sevilla, Liverpool and Real Madrid. While advancing in the Champions League against a sometimes spotty Liverpool squad at Anfield seems a longshot at best, Barcelona could get through this three-game stretch with the Spanish Division lead well in hand.

So while repeating last season’s double appears doubtful but not impossible, Barcelona supporters would gladly take a Spanish League – Copa Del Rey double. And with the team appearing to finally be hitting on all cylinders, Barcelona is once again appearing to be a team capable of collecting cups.

Bill Wolfrum resides in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil, where he believes Verdão’s recent 4-0 victory will catapult them into the Brazilian C Series. His work appears at Williamkwolfrum.com and WorldGolf.com.