that contributed to him being considered one of the best Brazilian players in the world at the time, he was not selected for the Brazilian squad that featured in the 2002 FIFA World Cup and in the 2004 Copa América missing both because of a recurring knee injury. Brazil would win both tournaments. He was however a member of the Brazil squad that won the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup. In the 2006 FIFA World Cup Juninho scored against Japan in a group stage match. Following Brazil's defeat to eventual runners-up France in the quarter-finals of the tournament, he announced his international retirement, so as to make way for younger talents coming through the ranks in Brazil, in order to build for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Director career In May 2019, Juninho was appointed as the director of football of his former club Olympique Lyonnais. His first decision was to name former Brazilian international teammate Sylvinho as the head coach of the French Ligue 1 team. Style of play Juninho has been described as "one of the world's most feared strikers of a static ball". Frequently ranked the greatest free-kick exponent, the method he used for long-range free kicks is "knuckle balling", where the ball has almost no spinning motion during flight. A successful knuckle ball will "move" or "wobble" in the air unpredictably, veering in a number of different directions (making it difficult to save) before finding the net. He first made his name as a free kick taker with a long range strike against Bayern Munich in the 2003–04 Champions League group stage in which the ball dipped viciously at the end of travel that deceived Bayern keeper Oliver Kahn, who was considered one of the best goalkeepers in the world at the time. Juninho has scored from free-kicks beyond 40 yards on a number of occasions: including against AC Ajaccio in 2006, against Barcelona in 2007, against OGC Nice in 2008, and a strike against Marseille in 2009—his final free kick goal for Lyon. Even before Lyon, he displayed his talent at Vasco da Gama, scoring several free kick goals for the club. Juninho has also scored memorable free kick goals for Brazil, the most famous being a curling shot from 30 yards against Greece in the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup. Brazil would go on to win the match 3–0. Also, Juninho scored two free kicks against