Brazil's Rousseff needs to rethink game plan Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff is facing a situation that would be all too familiar to the country's erstwhile World Cup soccer coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, known as Felipão or Big Phil. Like Brazil's workmanlike 2014 World Cup squad, which fought a bitter, dirty game to beat Colombia 2-1 in the quarter finals on home territory this year Ms Rousseff clawed her way to a 3 percentage point victory in October in the nation's closest election in a generation. The bad news for her is that having won at the ballot box, she needs a strategy to survive her second term in power after what was widely viewed as a disappointing first four years. In the game against Colombia, Felipão lost star striker Neymar (broken back bone) and captain Thiago Silva (suspended), setting the team up for its disastrous 7-1 massacre by Germany in the semi-finals. Ms Rousseff too has lost her two star performers - the commodities supercycle, which has vanished with China's slower growth - and Petrobras, the state-owned oil company, which has been fouled by mismanagement and corruption. Her biggest immediate concern is Petrobras, which is sinking under what is shaping up to be the country's biggest corruption scandal. The case is simple enough. Federal police were investigating a convicted black market money dealer Alberto Youssef and his network when they stumbled upon his close relationship with a former Petrobras director, Paulo Roberto Costa. Both have since entered into plea bargains with police in which they are telling all in exchange for leniency. Over a period of years, when Mr Costa was still working at Petrobras, the pair administered a system of kickbacks for their alleged political masters in the ruling coalition. They claim they collaborated with the company's contractors, which allegedly include most of the country's biggest construction companies, to overinflate the value of projects. The contractors then allegedly rewarded the pair and other Petrobras officials and their political masters through kickbacks paid through shell companies as well as legal political party donations. The pair claim payments to the ruling coalition amounted to 3 per cent of the total value of contracts. Ms Rousseff's ruling Workers" party, the PT, its allies and some contractors deny the allegations. Ms Rousseff, who chaired the company until becoming president in 2010, also denies involvement. But the allegations are having widespread domestic and international repercussions, particularly following police raids on the contractors last week. Petrobras is responsible for a quarter of Brazil's annual issuance of dollar-denominated bonds. It also has American depositary receipts on New York Stock Exchange. The corruption case has prompted investigations by the Securities Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice. The company may have to restate its accounts. Separately from the corruption scandal, Ms Rousseff's government also robbed Petrobras" minority shareholders by forcing the company to provide an unofficial fuel subsidy to help control inflation. Her government resorted to price controls because its heterodox policies - larger fiscal deficits coupled with an attempt to artificially reduce interest rates - pumped up inflation without reviving growth. Today, Ms Rousseff faces a perfect storm largely of her own making. The fiscal deficit and public debt are increasing, the currency is depreciating, inflation is persistently high, the economy is not growing and Brazil's investment-grade credit rating is on the line. Publicly at least, she has sounded the right note on Petrobras by assuring a full investigation. But she faces tough times ahead when prosecutors start to indict her political allies. Social unrest could be on the horizon too if Brazil's economy continues to sink. The working classes and the poor voted for her. But jobs growth in October was the worst since 1998, and extreme poverty rose last year for the first time in 10 years. All may not be lost. The star players of recent years may be missing. But if as promised, she can find a credible replacement for her embattled finance minister, Guido Mantega, she could still salvage a draw or better. To do so, she will need to provide this person with the independence to implement tough fiscal medicine - a challenge for a known micromanager. Failure, on the other hand, could mean she suffers the same ignominious end that befell Felipão. He resigned and is today coach of Grêmio, the football team of the southern city of Porto Alegre. This incidentally is also where Ms Rousseff started her political career. If she cannot change her game, they could soon be reminiscing together at the local football matches.