The Brazilians are monumentally hurt. Vinicius Junior has called for a seismic rethinking after returning from an embarrassing trip across the border. A 1-4 loss to Argentina, their bete noire, in the World Cup qualifier rang throughout the football cathedrals of the world, with stark images of the Mineirazo blinking on the stream of consciousness and social media.
That had happened on the fateful June evening, the agony in Belo Horizonte, where Brazil suffered a humiliating 7-1 defeat to Germany on their own turf in the 2014 World Cup semifinal. Two unsuccessful World Cup campaigns followed, which took a toll on Tite, Ramon Menezes (caretaker), Fernando Diniz (caretaker). Last week, the sword, as expected, fell on Dorival Junior.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!
Amid such changes, Brazil’s tendency to implode occasionally has been the excruciating constant. It is not the first time in the recent past that Brazil conceded four. Swamped with information that’s mostly unnecessary and used to obfuscate thought and reason, the world forgot that under Menezes in a June 2023 friendly, Sadio Mane’s Senegal pumped as many past Ederson, the Man City goalkeeper. Last week, however, the unfortunate gloveman was Bento.
With 18 months to go for the World Cup, Brazil’s suffering against an Argentina that was without Lionel Messi, only strengthens the notion that the Canarinhos will qualify for the World Cup 2026, but nothing beyond. Thankfully with six out of 10 ten teams making it out of the South American group in this time’s inflated 48-team competition, Brazil and its fans don’t have to spend sleepless nights.
The question that keeps popping up like unwelcome adverts, though, is, what ails Pele’s team? Well, as the football romantic Simon Kuper says, “Brazil will always be Pele’s team.” For a while, it was also Ronaldo’s team. Post-Ronaldo, the history of Brazil is a history of struggle against Europe, non-transference of knowledge, and a story of brilliant individuals failing to play as a team.
Their World Cup campaigns are a repeat-show of slipping on European banana peels. In 2006, it was Zidane’s France. Four years later in South Africa, it was Wesley Sneijder who rose above the yellow shirts. In their own backyard, Belo Horizonte, Brazil scripted their darkest chapter against Germany. Kevin de Bryune’s Belgium undid Neymar-powered Brazilians in Russia. In Qatar, Luka Modric’s Croatia cut short their run even though hardly any non-Croatian remembers Mislav Orsic the provider or Bruno Petkovic, the one who equalized.
It marked Brazil’s fifth elimination in the World Cup against European opposition since a 2-0 victory over Germany in the 2002 final. No wonder Vinicius is left crying after the fresh debacle on the banks of River Plate.
“Everyone did badly, we played badly, and Argentina played excellent,” Vinicius said, “We must rethink everything we’ve been doing, because the pressure will come, the people want us to win.
“The World Cup is a year away and I’ve already played in a World Cup and I don’t want to lose again. I think we must do a lot of different things and take the good things we’re doing in qualifying to build a squad. Everyone knows how difficult it is to play in this kit, but we must keep our heads up. We’re going to qualify for the World Cup and try to do everything for our country,” he would add.
Perhaps, the screams are a little too late in coming. Lest we forget, the country’s Olympic team, the stepping stone to the Selecao, failed to qualify for Paris 2024. Those who could recall another friendly against Spain under Dorival, the lingering image was how Lamine Yamal taught the visitors lessons in dribbling, a skill that was once the domain of the men in yellow.
The words of Mario Zagallo, a World Cup winner as both a player and coach, turned out to be prophetic. He warned that the sellout of homegrown talent has led to the erosion of Brazil’s football identity. He was speaking right after Mineirazo; even a decade later — till his death this January — he wasn’t proven wrong.
Leaving the shores early for Europe, is almost a Brazilian way of life. One can argue with some truth that they don’t make Pele, Garrincha, a Romario or Ronaldo anymore, just as they don’t make Shakespeare anymore.
Raphinha is the key to Barcelona’s current degree of hotness. Players with lesser ability have come together to win football’s highest honour with organization, coaching acumen and a slice of luck. Marquinhos, for his life, will not be able to explain how Petkovic’s shot took that deflection to send Alisson the wrong way in Qatar. Neither could Tite.
Dorival Junior is the third coach that the CBF has sacked after Tite resigned following the 2022 exit. Often quick changes in coaching staff are held responsible. Mario Zagallo was appointed just three months prior to the 1970 World Cup. And the team that rediscovered the ‘beautiful game” under Tele Santana in 1982, considered to be the best team not to have won the World Cup, had been under his charge for a full two years.
In Brazil, it has always been the triumph of the individual over the collective. Unreasonable it may seem, as we are constantly feeding off European models. No one can explain Branco’s goal from a free-kick against Holland in 1994. Or Oliver Kahn’s spilling of Rivaldo’s stinger with Ronaldo sniffing around.
In 2002, Brazil’s humungous qualification struggle had been buried into oblivion. Among four automatic slots, Brazil hadslipped in claiming the third! Reading Brazil, we instantly go back some 75 years when the world empathized with the struggle of the underprivileged. The intermediate changes in the society are overlooked as we lament Brazil’s reversals.
Samindra Kunti, author of Brazil 1970, says, “The romantic idea of football is dead and we are forever expecting Brazil to rekindle the dream.”
Maybe Brazil have wasted three years of preparation time or who knows, someone like Zagallo will appear to inspire and wipe away Vinicius’s tears.
Marcela Mora y Araujo, who specialises in South American football, feels that the debacle against Argentina is just a blip and not a crisis.
“Brazil’s qualification road has not always been smooth if we go by the history. They always have an ace up their sleeve.”
