The First Defeat in Brazil's History: What's Behind the National Team's Recent Struggles?

2023-11-23 03:04:19

It was not unanimous, but it was hurtful: part of the Brazilian fans who arrived at the Maracaná excited to see their team defeating the world champion began to sing ‘ole’ when Argentina circulated the ball from side to side. It was the reflection of a painful moment: the country that had won the World Cup the most times lost its undefeated record at home in the qualifying round.

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It is increasingly common to find in the press or on social networks the phrase “It is the first time that Brazil…”, accompanied by a negative milestone: in 2014, the first time that a local team in a World Cup conceded seven goals. ; in 2016, the first time it was left out of a Copa América in the group stage since 1987, in a zone with Peru, Ecuador and Haiti.

A month ago, the first defeat against Uruguay in 22 years and the first in eight years in the tie. Until that moment, one could speak of something circumstantial, given the enormous dominance that the Brazilians had shown in the last two World Cups.
But now, in less than a week, they received three decisive blows in a row: the first defeat against Colombia, the first time they lost two games in a row in the qualifying round (there are now three) and now, the first defeat at home in the qualifiers. And against Argentina, which had already won the Copa América final against them two years ago on the same field, the Maracaná. Something is wrong in Brazil: the direction has been lost.

The ‘ole’ fell like a stab in the soul to Brazil’s coach, Fernando Diniz, the same one whom the world praised just three weeks ago for his “functional attack” with which he won the Copa Libertadores with Fluminense. On the continent, and in clubs, the country continues to sweep: the last non-Brazilian club that raised the Libertadores was River, in 2018. But already at the National Team level, in this tie the cracks appeared.

“The fans have the right to do what they want. It arrives and we have to give our best. The fan is passionate and wants to win, that’s why he has the right to boo. I think yelling ‘ole’ at Argentina is too much. So much so that those who did it were booed by the audience that was there. But booing, being uneasy with the team because it doesn’t win is extremely understandable,” said a hurt Diniz at a press conference.

(Also: Alert in Real Madrid due to Vinicius’ injury against Colombia: how serious is it?)

“For the rest, you have to know how to live with the boos and the pressure. He (the fan) wants to win and play well. I think the team played well, but they didn’t win. And when that happens and defeat comes, it is a normal occurrence,” he added.

Diniz is a man passing through the National Team. After the departure of Tite, the previous coach, after failing in his attempt to recover the world crown in Qatar 2022, the Fluminense coach was put there as an emergency due to the possible arrival of Carlo Ancelotti, once his contract with Real ends. Madrid.

Unstable equipment

That instability is noticeable, in the game and on the payroll. Diniz has used 34 players in this tie, more than any other team. Argentina, for example, has only used 23 and Colombia, 29.

There are mitigating factors for this bad moment, of course. Only on this date of the qualifiers, Brazil lost no less than eight players due to injury, including attacking references such as Neymar and Vinícius (who was included in the squad and was injured in the match they lost against Colombia). And Diniz himself used that as a defense argument.

“I am going to say the same thing I said when Fluminense won the Libertadores: you cannot think that life is only statistics, if it is only statistics everything is very bad. But if we analyze it as a process of change, of players, there were many things. Today we had three players who played in the last World Cup, Argentina had almost a complete team,” he explained.

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“Performance fluctuates. Against Colombia I said we played better most of the time. And when we talk, it doesn’t have a big impact. The Argentine coach saw the same game as me, he agreed,” added the coach, in a statement that was described as a lack of self-criticism.

And the school?

Brazil has lost its school and has tried to look for foreign talent for the benches. The possible arrival of the Italian Ancelotti is a symptom, although his hiring would be more due to trying to take advantage of his knowledge of the two forwards that this country is betting on for the future, Rodrygo and Vinícius, whom he has daily at Real Madrid , and who Enrick will join once he turns 18.
Until July of this year, there were more foreign coaches than Brazilians in the local League: there were 11, seven Portuguese and four Argentinian. Several of them have already lost their jobs, such as the gaucho Jorge Sampaoli, who had a terrible time at Flamengo, and the Portuguese Bruno Lage, fired when he had Botafogo as leader, although with a negative streak of eight games without winning, among them, those of the Copa Sudamericana, in which, finally, the team was eliminated.

The fact that Diniz is interim also ended up affecting the team’s development. Fluminense’s much praised ‘functional attack’ requires a lot of work and a lot of repetition and that is impossible to do in the national teams, since the players meet three or four days before each game. And now we will have to wait until June 2024 to reach the next official game, the start of the Copa América. If they let him get there.

“When you control the training you find the things you intend to do in the game, but sometimes the result escapes you. How are you going to win? Stop evolving, stop building? Stop believing in the children who played, many of them born in the 2000s? This is the future we have. And the players were committed. If you can improve this, the tendency is for the results to appear consistently,” Diniz explained.

(Keep reading: Lionel Scaloni: why are you thinking about leaving the Argentine National Team? Analysis)

The last time Brazil experienced a similar crisis was in 2001, although not of the proportions of the current one. The coach at the time, Emerson Leao, left in June of that year, after losing against Ecuador in Quito and drawing at home against Peru. In his place came Luiz Felipe Scolari, who from the start received several blows: a defeat against Uruguay, the failure in the Copa América in Colombia, to which he brought an alternate team and was left out in the quarterfinals, and then, having to wait until the last date of the qualifying round to go to the World Cup. The following year he was world champion.
For now, the bet seems to continue to be Diniz, who will have to bet on moving what he can on the Fifa date in March. The DT knows the limitations that not being able to train frequently with the group gives him.

“The game ends up being the training itself. The emotions of the game cannot be trained in training. For me it would be much better if we had sequential matches, but I have to adapt to that and make the team better and better. I hope there are no more problems with the calls, that we can have those we believe are best and that the players do not get injured,” he insisted.

JOSEPH ORLANDO ASCENCIO
SPORTS Deputy Editor
@Josasc