Midway through an unusually long, 12-day gap between Brazil’s last preparatory friendly against the USA and our Copa América opener against Costa Rica next Monday, the mood here on the Brazil World Cup Blog is: angst.
A poor display in that USA game prompted fresh doubts about new coach Dorival Júnior, all while we’ve watched Carlo Ancelotti, the coach the CBF originally tried and failed spectacularly to sign after the 2022 World Cup, win his fifth Champions League title, in the process of which his Real Madrid side found itself cornered in ways that have cost Brazil in major tournaments for twenty years, and yet always emerged unscathed. Since then, the Euros have started, and Germany and Spain’s impressive performances in their debut games suggest that they may each be working their way out of their respective decade of futility, all underscoring how much of an opportunity we squandered in 2022 when they both took themselves out of our potential path to the semifinals. Oh, and Ronaldinho came out of nowhere and blasted this current Brazil team as one of “the worst in recent years”, lacking both talent and leadership—criticisms it’s hard to argue with—only to then reveal it was all some sort of ham-fisted marketing stunt for deodorant?
Am I missing anything? I probably am. Anyways, I think the best way to explore all these concerns is to talk about Formula 1 instead.
Continue reading
Recent Comments