Sporting briefs

Dunga: Coach Dunga dodged questions about the individual performances of Ronaldinho, Kaka and Robinho in Brazil's 4-0 rout of Chile in a friendly international last Saturday. The trio started the match at the Ullevi stadium together for the first time in seven games since Dunga took charge with Ronaldinho, who netted twice, scoring his first goals for Brazil since June 2005. "The whole team is important, not just a few individuals," said Dunga, who went on to read out the names of almost every player in his squad one by one.

Van Basten: Netherlands coach Marco van Basten has dropped defenders Kew Jaliens and Tim de Cler and midfielder Denny Landzaat from his squad for the Euro 2008 Group G qualifier away to Slovenia on Wednesday. The KNVB said yesterday that the Dutch will travel to Slovenia with three goalkeepers as Edwin van der Sar returns from injury while the other two, Maarten Stekelenburg and Henk Timmer, remain in the group. Jaliens and Landzaat were in action on Saturday during the disappointing 0-0 home against Romania in Rotterdam.

Vogts debut: A late Nwankwo Kanu goal gave Berti Vogts a winning start as Nigeria coach in a controversial 1-0 defeat of Uganda in an African Nations Cup qualifier last Saturday. Nigeria laboured through the encounter against their underrated opponents before the Portsmouth striker scored from close range with 17 minutes left after Uganda failed to clear a corner taken by Chelsea's John Obi Mikel. Uganda had a strike from a goalmouth scramble disallowed in the final minutes, prompting angry protests from their players toward Senegal referee Badara Diatta.

Clemente criticised: Serbia's Spanish coach Javier Clemente has come under heavy criticism after the team's shock 2-1 defeat in Kazakhstan in their Group E Euro qualifier last Saturday. "Clemente is a fake," screamed daily Sportski Zurnal on its front page and poured scorn on the 57-year old for leaving experienced defenders Mladen Krstajic and Ivica Dragutinovic on the bench. Clemente defended his decision to introduce youngsters Milan Stepanov and Dusko Tosic to the back four, which conceded two soft goals against a side that had never won a European qualifier.

Parreira: World Cup winning coach Carlos Alberto Parreira says he was both relieved and elated with a victorious start to his new career in charge of 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa. Parreira led his team to a 3-0 away win over Chad in their African Nations Cup qualifier last Saturday to set South Africa on their way to qualifying for the 2008 finals. Goals from Surprise Moriri, Delron Buckley and Sibusiso Zuma ensured a winning debut for Parreira in heat of 42 degrees at kickoff.

Savicevic: Montenegro FA president Dejan Savicevic hailed the country's 2-1 friendly win over Hungary on Saturday in their debut as an independent nation. "It was an historic win achieved in a great atmosphere thanks to a monumental effort by the players to treat our faithful to the start we all wanted," the former Yugoslavia international said. "We beat a good team with a rich soccer tradition and I believe it indicates we will be capable of building a respectable team in the future," he said.