The wait for the hexa – the record-extending sixth World Cup – continues. Brazil’s 2-1 loss to Norway in the last 16 of the World Cup on Sunday means they have gone six tournaments in a row without being crowned champions. Some in Brazil are calling it the reverse hexa.
As you would expect, the reaction back home has been scathing. Neto, the former international who is now a pundit on Radio Bandeirantes, laid into the current crop of players. “It’s a generation that won fuck all,” he said. “There are six players who won one Copa América and that’s it. It was embarrassing from the beginning and everything that happened before that game. It was a shameful campaign and these guys are losers. It’s a generation of lies.”
Carlo Ancelotti, who was praised for his interventions during Brazil’s 2-1 win against Japan in the last-32 stage, has not been spared. Cahê Mota, writing in Globoesporte, said the manager’s substitutions against Norway only made the team worse: “The Seleção are out of the World Cup and Ancelotti’s plan failed. Brazil bet on a booby-trap game: they gave the ball to Norway and bet on a transition at speed. It worked very little.
“The penalty missed by Bruno Guimarães would have given the game a different shape, but the Seleção bet big on a style that does not match its tradition and they did not know how to be lethal when they had chances. You can’t even regret it. You can’t say there was injustice. You can’t even say the defeat happened but we played like Brazil.”
Brazil had 34% possession against Norway, their lowest in a World Cup match since records began in 1966. Such a statistic is an embarrassment in the eyes of Mauro Cezar Pereira, one of the country’s leading pundits. “It’s shameful to see a Brazil team, which for years has relied on marketing ploys like ‘joga bonito’, having a strategy to give the ball to the opponent and only play in transition,” he said. He believes this “cowardly” style will never be acceptable to Brazilians, adding: “The poor quality of Carlo Ancelotti’s work is embarrassing.”
There have been calls for Ancelotti to be sacked, with the country’s football association also taking flak for giving him a new four-year contract a few months before the tournament began. The manager’s handling of Neymar has divided fans. Neymar’s admirers believe that had he started the match he would have converted Brazil’s penalty in the first half and altered the course of the tie.
His detractors, however, are convinced that introducing the country’s all-time record goalscorer was the change that cost Ancelotti the most. Neymar moved into the centre of the attack, pushing Vinícius Júnior and Endrick out wide.
“That’s what decided the game,” said Mauro. “From the moment he entered, Norway had even more possession. They attacked more and built plays until they scored goals. With Neymar, Endrick and Vinícius, Brazil became even weaker in combat, in the fight for possession, and were definitely subjugated by the Norwegians. Suicide.”
Neymar won his first cap in New Jersey in 2010, in a friendly against the USA. Now, 130 caps and 80 goals later, he has retired from international football. “I tried,” he said. “It started here at MetLife Stadium and I finished here. It is now over.”
Many in Brazil would like to see a full reset, with Neymar, Casemiro and his generation moving aside. The more optimistic fans want the country to produce midfielders and full-backs like they did in the old days. The immediate priority is the Copa América in two years’ time, which is also likely to be held in the US. If Ancelotti fares as badly at that tournament as he has done at this World Cup, do not expect him to see out his £8.5m-a-year deal.
This is an article by Tom Sanderson
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