When Tite took charge of the Brazilian national team for the first time in September 2016, a difficult decision needed to be made. Neymar, who had been the captain under previous manager Dunga, renounced the role immediately after leading the Selecao to Olympic gold that August. There was no stand-out candidate to take the armband, no name that leapt off the page as a natural leader of the group, so the new head coach opted for a different model. He would not appoint a permanent captain, but rather rotate the responsibility amongst his players. It was something he had already done before taking the reins of the Selecao, with Corinthians, the Brazilian side he led to Copa Libertadores and Club World Cup glory in 2012. Originally, the idea to give the captaincy to a different player in each game was forced upon him by necessity. All three of his potential skippers for the Sao Paulo-based outfit had been sold and sharing the burden of leadership among the remaining players seemed the only acceptable response. The policy turned out to be a success, making use of the different characteristics of each individual and avoiding too much blame falling at the feet of one player if the team was going through a rough patch. Given the circumstances, implementing the same strategy with Brazil seemed the sensible thing to do. This was a team that suffered from a chronic lack of leadership at their home World Cup in 2014. First, Thiago Silva wept uncontrollably during the penalty shootout with Chile and then David Luiz, when given the armband during the infamous 7-1 semi-final defeat, played with the composure of a bull at a rodeo. Neymar is also a difficult character to control, and had a new permanent captain questioned his behaviour, it could have caused a rift in the group.
“I want to give the opportunity for all the players to have this experience [of being captain]”, Tite said in 2017, “I believe it to be an honour… It is a co-responsibility, that is the message I want to send.”
Including that first outing against Ecuador, his team recorded 17 wins in 21 games before travelling to Russia, the only defeat coming to Argentina in a meaningless friendly played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, using 16 different captains in the process. In light of such numbers, the decision seems to have been justified. As well as the results, there was a visible improvement in the collective spirit. Each of the players he chose as captain responded positively and the group seems far more cohesive now than at any point under Dunga or Luiz Felipe Scolari. As the World Cup drew nearer, however, media speculation about Tite appointing one captain for the entire tournament grew and questions started to be asked. Would the rotation do more harm than good once the team were in Russia? And who would lift the trophy were Brazil to win the long-anticipated hexacampeonato?