Dunga backs Neymar to overhaul Pele´s Brazil goal record

Brazil coach Dunga has backed Neymar to ovehaul Pele as his country’s all-time leading scorer, although he insists he will truly be judged by his number of World Cup wins.

Neymar was on target in Thursday’s 3-1 win over France, moving his overall tally to 43 in 61 internationals.

Pele, widely regarded as the finest player to grace the game on the back of  World Cup wins in 1958, 1962 and 1970, registered 77 goals in the famous Brazil jersey.

The current Brazilian generation fell humiliatingly short of adding to the tally registered by Pele and his esteemed contemporaries when they were thumped 7-1 by eventual winners Germany to bow out in the semi-finals of a home World Cup last year.

Dunga succeeded Luiz Felipe Scolari on the back of that humbling reverse and has overseen seven consecutive victories, with Neymar scoring eight of the team’s 17 goals.

In 1994, Dunga lifted the fourth of Brazil’s five World Cups as captain and he insists Neymar will ultimately be judged on whether he can help add to this rich history and not on any personal landmarks.

“Neymar is doing very well and will only grow,” he told a press conference ahead of Sunday’s friendly meeting with Chile at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.

“In regard to [matching Pele’s] goals I don’t think that will be a problem. But the record we really want him to get is Pele’s number of World Cup wins.”

Pele himself praised the Barcelona forward earlier this week but dismissed the prospect of Neymar overhauling him in the eyes of Brazilian fans.

“I think not,” he said. “I think to be the new king, the new Pele, is impossible because my mother and my father closed the machine. 

“I think he’s a good player, an excellent young player and he’s going to be a big star, no doubt.”