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Brazil's national coach fired upon arrival

By Helena de Moura, CNN
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Brazil's official football federation fires coach "Dunga"
  • Football team arrives amid insults by fans
  • Felipe Melo the target of angry fans after Brazil's loss against Holland

(CNN) -- Brazil's official football federation, CBF, fired its national team's coach and his technical commission just hours after the arrival of the team's flight at the Rio de Janeiro Airport on Sunday.

In a short news release, CBF officials said they had dismissed Dunga and a new coach will be announced in July following Brazil's elimination from the World Cup during Friday's quarterfinals.

"After the working cycle that started in August 2006, and ended with the elimination of Brazil from the World Cup in South Africa ... the CBF announces that the technical committee of the national squad has been released," the statement said.

On Sunday, Brazil's TV Record showed images of an entourage guarding the team's arrival in Rio de Janeiro. Team members dashed amid shouts and insults by aggrieved fans angered by Brazil's 2-to-1 defeat by Holland, a national humiliation for notoriously ardent fans.

Felipe Melo, whose costly red card kept the Brazilian team short by one player for 20 minutes during Friday's loss, was rushed through an angry mob into a car.

During a news conference, Dunga told journalists he believed his mission was accomplished.

"Football is this way. One has to learn how to lose, and one has to learn how to win," he said.

But Dunga showed a more defiant tone in his official resignation letter to Brazil's national footbal association, sent Monday.

All that's left for him to do now "is to respect your decision, for, whether it is correct or not, it is not my place to question it. ..." he said in Monday's letter.

Football, a national obsession for Brazilians, has earned its national team five World Cup wins. The defeat was felt deeply by Brazilian fans.

In an interview with the official Agencia Brasil, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva asked Brazilians not to "cry over spilled milk" and to "prepare to win the World Cup of 2014."