Branco leaves Figueirense days before season
Reuters - Monday 14 May 2012, 21:10
Brazil World Cup winner
Branco has parted company with Figueirense after five months in
charge and only six days before the start of the Brazilian
championship.
The Florianopolis-based club said on Monday that the former
left back had been replaced by Argel who would lead the side in
the opening game against Nautico on Saturday.
Figueirense said in a statement that the 48-year-old, who
was coaching a top-flight team for the first time, had left "by
mutual agreement" after the team failed to win the Catarinense
championship, a season-opening regional tournament.
Branco was partly a victim of championship rules as
Figueirense won both group stages of the competition but were
still forced to play a semi-final and final against teams who
had finished well below them.
They were beaten by Avai in the two-leg final.
As a player, Branco is widely remembered for his ferocious
left-foot shot, scoring a memorable winner for Brazil in the
1994 World Cup quarter-final against Netherlands with a 35-metre
free-kick.
Brazil went on to win the competition to claim their fourth
world title. Branco won 75 caps in a 10-year international
career and his club career took him to Brescia, Porto and Genoa