On 5 February 2009 the Iraqi football federation sacked the Brazilian coach.

Sack the coach, drop the team, change the kit, switch sponsors, bring back mascots, draft in a few women and allow the General Synod to vote on who should be captain.

At 11:20 22nd Sep 2010, AlexAD wrote: ... and immediately after I posted this I came to know that Santos last night sacked the coach because he dared ban Neymar for two games after another one of his tantrums... It is so sweet to be right, isn't it?

Also according to the same source, the team also sacked the assistant coach Jorge Prisca and Fernando Pereira, goalkeepers coach.