Brazil have endured so many low ebbs over the previous 15 years that it may be exhausting to recollect all of them.
The traditionally embarrassing 7-1 defeat to Germany at their very own World Cup? Positive, however don’t overlook the moronic reappointment of Dunga as coach within the fast aftermath or the dual Copa America meltdowns of 2015 and 2016. The doomed, drawn-out pursuit of Carlo Ancelotti must be on the listing, too, as ought to about six different federation-level failures. You’d want a staff of forensic specialists to correctly sift by way of all this rubble.
There’s additionally a more moderen choice that may have handed you by. In November 2023, led by their second interim coach of the yr, Brazil welcomed Argentina to Rio de Janeiro for a World Cup qualifier. They misplaced 1-0, a predictable end result that nonetheless tipped the crisis-o-meter in the direction of ‘existential’.
It was Brazil’s third defeat within the first six rounds of qualification. It left them sixth within the 10-team South American group. Venezuela, nobody’s thought of a significant soccer energy, had been above them within the standings. So had been Ecuador they usually had began the marketing campaign with a factors deduction.
The enlargement of the World Cup and an additional computerized qualifying spot for the CONMEBOL area (there at the moment are six, with an inter-continental play-off for the nation ending seventh) must have lowered Brazil’s probabilities of failure to nought. As an alternative, they had been flirting with catastrophe.
Sixteen months on, the scenario is beneath management. A tough-fought victory over Colombia final week lifted Brazil to 3rd. There’s an eight-point buffer between them and seventh. We will say with some certainty that they are going to be on the 2026 World Cup. The drama is over.
That, although, is to not say that every one is sunshine and roses. Certainly, as Brazil put together to face Argentina for the primary time since that reversal in Rio de Janeiro, there’s a lingering sense of unease in regards to the path of journey.
Vinicius Junior celebrates his late winner in Brazil’s 2-1 win over Colombia on Friday (Buda Mendes/Getty Photos)
Brazil’s outcomes have improved, however it might be beneficiant to say they’ve been enjoying effectively. They had been stodgy within the excessive eventually summer season’s Copa America and up to date matches have adopted the identical template: there are little spurts of inspiration, most of it particular person, but additionally lengthy durations when Brazil are fretful and frantic. They began effectively towards Colombia however let all momentum seep away, as they typically do.
Vinicius Junior’s late winner, a deflected strike from vary, owed extra to pluck and luck than any collective plan. “I hope it unlocks one thing,” Vinicius Jr mentioned after the sport. He isn’t the one one.
Dorival Junior, who took over as coach in January 2024, is a likeable character. He arrived with a repute as a firefighter, somebody who might avert the approaching disaster. On that rely, it’s job executed. Mathematically, Brazil are protected. The query now’s whether or not he has the tactical acumen to show them into a correct staff.
The jury may be very a lot out on that one. He says he needs his star forwards — Rodrygo, Vinicius Jr, Raphinha — to play with freedom, however extra construction is required towards organised defences. His system can depart Brazil’s two midfielders uncovered and he’s sluggish to react to shifts within the sample of a match. “Typically it’s troublesome to get your message throughout clearly,” he mentioned after the Colombia recreation, an admission that was much more revealing than he can have supposed.
One other line from his press convention — “We’ve seen a substantial enchancment in each recreation” — drew the ire of the Brazilian press. “You want a magnifying glass to see any progress,” deadpanned Jessica Cescon of GloboEsporte. “We want one thing completely different, a gust of originality,” wrote Tostao, the previous Brazil striker.
The juxtaposition with Argentina is a painful one on each stage. Few would ever admit to such heresy, however all wise Brazilian soccer followers will really feel an acute pang of jealousy after they look throughout their southern border.
Most clearly, there are the trophies. Argentina gained the World Cup in 2022, one thing Brazil haven’t managed in over 20 years and don’t appear to be doing any time quickly. The final two editions of the Copa America have gone Argentina’s means, too. Brazil gained that competitors in 2019, however that appears a very long time in the past now. For the previous six years, this has been an extremely one-sided rivalry.
A part of the allure of this era of Argentine dominance is that it was so sudden. Argentina, like Brazil, spent the 2010s lurching between crises, but discovered a profitable lottery ticket down the again of the couch. Lionel Scaloni has not solved each difficulty behind the scenes — he got here near strolling away from the job final yr after allegedly falling out with the federation hierarchy — however he has filtered out the noise and the nonsense to transformative impact. Brazil would kill for a little bit slice of the identical.
Dorival Junior took over as Brazil head coach in January 2024 (Evaristo Sa/AFP through Getty Photos)
On the pitch, Argentina are every little thing Brazil usually are not: settled, drilled, coherent. Clearly, the presence of a world-historical footballer is at all times more likely to swing issues in your favour, however Argentina know get by when Lionel Messi is absent, as he will probably be in Buenos Aires on Tuesday. That is Scaloni’s seventh yr in cost and you may inform. Brazil’s gamers, as Marquinhos put it this week, “are nonetheless attending to know one another”; Argentina’s canine of conflict know one another inside out.
Maybe probably the most stark distinction, although, is to be discovered within the stands and within the streets.
It’s unimaginable to consider Argentina’s World Cup win with out remembering these wonderful scenes of help and jubilation within the nation’s cities: the swaying seas of followers in metropolis squares, the tears, the singing, the lads clinging to phone poles, hollering themselves hoarse.
Success at all times breeds attachment, however there’s something additional right here, real communion. Argentines don’t simply watch these gamers; they really feel in tune with them, represented by them, ennobled by their many attributes. (And, much less positively, defensive of their flaws.)
Issues are completely different for Brazil. There’s, understandably, no nice groundswell of help for the Selecao in its present iteration. Extra fascinating is the shortage of any nice nationwide outrage in regards to the staff and its diminished standing. The overriding emotions are apathy and drift.
This isn’t a brand new phenomenon. Brazilian pundits have wrung their fingers in regards to the lack of connection between the nationwide staff and the general public for years, perhaps even a long time. The gamers are requested about it on a regular basis. Each recreation is painted as a chance to get folks onside, to start out forging a brand new, united entrance. It’s an unimaginable factor to trace empirically, however the persistence of the discourse tells its personal story.
A couple of elements are often cited as causes for the malaise. One is that many nationwide staff gamers haven’t any actual hyperlinks with the Brazilian public, having left the home scene earlier than enjoying a lot — or any — senior soccer. One other is that Brazil spent years enjoying friendlies all around the globe, prioritising income over kinship.
Then there are the same old, drained tropes about gamers caring extra about their financial institution accounts and membership groups than they do for his or her nation, an argument fully undermined by the willingness of those self same gamers to cross the Atlantic a number of occasions per yr to get jeered each time they don’t win 3-0. (It will be unfair to conduct any evaluation of the team-fan relationship with out noting the strains of entitlement and impatience that exist throughout the Brazilian fanbase.)
It’s not clear the way you resolve any of this. It’s not clear that you simply even can. One of the best hope, you’d say, is solely to start out profitable issues — to kickstart a virtuous cycle that obscures the entire fissures, a lot as Argentina did after they appointed Scaloni in 2018.
As Brazil head to Buenos Aires, to a different raucous stadium, to one more exhibition of symbiosis between staff and public, they’ll know that there’s a path out of purgatory. Bottling lightning like Argentina did, nonetheless, is not going to be straightforward.
(Prime photographs: Getty Photos)