Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri (born 31 October 1963), known as Dunga (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈdũɡɐ]), is a Brazilian football manager and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder.

His nickname is derived from the Portuguese translation of "Dopey", a dwarf from the Disney version of Snow White, and was given to him by his uncle due to his short height during childhood.

[5] At the club level, he played for Internacional (1980–84, 1999–2000), Corinthians (1984–85), Santos (1985–87), Vasco da Gama (1987), Pisa (1987–88), Fiorentina (1988–92), Pescara (1992–93), VfB Stuttgart (1993–95), and Jubilo Iwata (1995–98).

[7] He was part of his country that won the 1989 Copa América by defeating Uruguay at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

[citation needed] In the following years, Dunga was consistently targeted by Brazilian press[specify] due to his supposedly "thuggish" style of playing.

Despite his infamous reputation, Brazil's new coach Carlos Alberto Parreira kept Dunga as one of the starting line-up throughout the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification and final.

[citation needed] Raí initially started the 1994 World Cup in the United States as the Brazilian team's captain, but after allegedly being held responsible for Brazil's poor performances early on in the tournament, he was eventually dropped altogether in favour of Mazinho.

[9][10][11] Dunga retained the role of the Brazil national team's captain for the next four years until the 1998 FIFA World Cup, in which he participated, despite playing in the Japanese J.

It was often visible on the pitch as demonstrated by the fact that Dunga got into a fight with teammate Bebeto in the first round match against Morocco, forcing the rest of the team to break them up.

En route to the final, Dunga scored his team's fourth penalty kick in the shootout victory against the Netherlands in the semi-finals.

The team came back from a 2–0 deficit against the United States to emerge victorious from a Lúcio header in the 84th minute that made the score 3–2.

[26] In the knockout stage, Brazil faced Paraguay and was eliminated after drawing 1–1 in normal time and losing 4–3 in the penalty shootout.

[30] Needing only a draw to progress to the knockout stage of the tournament, Brazil suffered a controversial 1–0 loss to Peru, with Raúl Ruidíaz scoring by guiding the ball into the net with his arm.

He was equally as effective playing either role, because he was quite a mobile player with excellent stamina, and therefore could get forward quickly to support his team's attacks, but at the same time he possessed all of the qualities associated with holding-role midfielders (vision, range of passing, solidity in the tackle, etc).

As a defensive midfielder, his level of technique was so well developed that he could often make a tackle and play a layoff to one of his team-mates with the same touch of the ball.

He possessed the intelligence, the work-rate, and the athletic and technical ability to play as a midfield ball-winner and a deep-lying playmaker rolled into one.