Scolari inspiring Palmeiras and leaving 7-1 behind

Miguel Borja celebrates with coach Luiz Felipe Scolari after scoring from the penalty spot his side’s second goal against Chile’s Colo Colo

It was the middle of a July summer night in Cascais, a seaside Portuguese city, when Luiz Felipe Scolari’s cell phone rang. His first thought was one of his children might be in trouble. Instead, it was an invitation to come home. Back to Brazil.

“I was a little scared at first,” Scolari said in August at his introduction at Palmeiras, the Sao Paulo club he led to their only South American crown in 1999. “I was talking to other national federations, but I went back to bed and could not sleep. Now I am happy to be here.”

Scolari left Brazil in 2014, in shame. He was coach of the national team when it was annihilated by Germany 7-1 that year in the World Cup semifinals, in Brazil. The coach known as Big Phil moved to China shortly after the debacle, promising to avoid Brazil for as long as possible.

Palmeiras sought the 69-year-old Scolari because it was in trouble. A team with some of the best players in South America, including winger Dudu, midfielder Lucas Lima, and Colombia striker Miguel Borja, was lagging sixth in the Brazilian championship and struggling in the Copa Libertadores.

Coach Roger Machado, who played under Scolari at Gremio in the 1990s, was fired by the same executive who called Scolari in the middle of the night. Palmeiras fans were happy with Big Phil’s return. Adversaries were happy, too; they thought the move was doomed to fail.

Scolari made Palmeiras’ defense more reliable with Luan and Gustavo Gomez. Lucas Lima, a reserve under Machado, was given more minutes. Striker Deyverson, deemed as too unstable, became a safe option when Borja was having an off day.

With 10 matches to go in the Brazilian championship, Palmeiras leads by three points, and is in the semifinals of the Copa Libertadores against Boca Juniors. Scolari and Palmeira are out of contention only in the Brazilian Cup, where they were stopped in the semifinals.

Today [Macau time], Palmeiras plays fifth- place Gremio, Scolari’s boyhood club, a team that is also in the Copa Libertadores semifinals. The coach said: “It is probably one of the most difficult games we have until the end of the Brazilian championship.” In other words, Scolari is right where he wants to be. Mauricio Savarese, Sao Paulo, AP