Brazil coach Dunga adds volunteers to his gripes

By Brian Homewood

SHENYANG, China (Reuters) - Brazil coach Dunga, already unhappy at the food, pitch and training arrangements for his team, has added volunteers to his gripes.

The famously grumpy former World Cup captain has found little to smile about, despite his team's progress to the semi-finals, and the prospect of staying in the Olympic village for Tuesday's match against Argentina failed to excite him.

"We have got to get there first to see how everything is," said Dunga, whose team beat Cameroon 2-0 in extra-time in Saturday's quarter-final in Shenyang. "There's no problem as long as our resting and eating times are respected.

"But we could do with fewer volunteers, there are too many of them around the team."

Volunteers have become an integral part of the Olympics, with Beijing recruiting a record 100,000, all of them eager to please and use their language skills at every opportunity.

Asked about mingling with other athletes, Dunga replied: "Maybe I'd like to meet some of the Brazilians."

Brazil captain Ronaldinho, taking part in the under-23 tournament as one of Brazil's three permitted over age players, is expected to be bombarded with autograph requests from other athletes.

Brazil, who have never won Olympic gold, move to Beijing after playing three of their four first games in Shenyang, a city which made little impression on Dunga.

"We didn't have time to see much," he told a local reporter who asked what memories he would take home.

Dunga managed to muster a comment about the people being friendly but then repeated his complaints about the state of the pitch at the Shenyang Olympic stadium.

"The pitch didn't help at all. The stadium is fantastic but the most important thing is the pitch."

And he didn't care that his team were jeered for their performance against Cameroon.

"We have to play against everything, we have to play to win, there's no other way," he said. "If the opposition play open football against Brazil, then we can play open and pretty football."

(Editing by Nick Macfie)