Brazil at rock bottom: how the Seleção lost their way

IIf this isn’t rock bottom for the Seleção, it’s almost too bad to make a difference. Another early exit from the tournament. Another Brazilian team making unwanted history. Their penalty shootout defeat to Uruguay in the quarter-finals of the Copa América is the eighth time since 2000 that they’ve been knocked out of a tournament outside Brazil before the semi-finals.

It may not be 1950 or 7-1, but the latest defeat paints an equally bleak picture as those famous results.

With this summer’s Copa América approaching, there was little expectation that Brazil would win their 10th title. But this could have been, and should have been, a chance to build momentum. After years of turmoil within the federation, there was hope that a strong performance could shift the tide ahead of the next round of World Cup qualifiers, where Brazil sit sixth in the table – putting them perilously close to missing out on the 2026 tournament.

After strong performances against Spain and England in March, coach Dorival Júnior, who was called in to stop the rot, appeared to have stabilised the team. But Copa América did little to silence Dorival’s doubters. He has been criticised for being unresponsive during the match and for making late substitutions. In his press conference after the quarter-final, he seemed irritated that his team failed to capitalise on Uruguay being reduced to 10 men in the second half. Even more troubling, his authority over a star-studded team is being questioned. Before the penalty shootout, as the players gathered, Dorival was left outside the circle. Dorival raised his hand to speak but was ignored.

The manager spoke throughout the tournament about his focus on penalties. Brazil practiced penalty kicks prior to the match, knowing that the chances of a shootout were higher now that Copa América had gone straight to penalties during the knockout rounds without extra time. Yet despite reportedly missing every penalty in training, Éder Militão was chosen to take the first one and promptly messed up his lines, much like Douglas Luiz.

Attacked by angry fans at the team’s hotel, where Dorival and captain Danilo were called upon to resign, Danilo said Brazil is a “young team that has shown it can do great things” and he “just hopes people have a little patience”.

Few would disagree. Patience was running out before the tournament and results and performances point to a team that has lost its way again. Brazil won just one game, a 4-1 drubbing of bottom-ranked Paraguay in their second group game. In their other three games against Costa Rica, Colombia and Uruguay they drew in regulation time and failed to score from open play.

Brazil is associated with smooth, fluid movement, but Dorival’s team was meandering. The joy seemed to have gone. There was little intensity. The players who were expected to inject dynamism – Rodrygo, Endrick, Vinícius Júnior – were either left on the bench or disappointed. Much of the focus has been on Vinícius, who has come in for criticism from all sides.

“Vinícius is not the player of whom you say: ‘If he plays well, Brazil will be champions.’ If he plays well, he will [only] help Brazil a lot,” Brazilian greatness Romário recently said.

The evidence from this summer suggests he is right. Vinicius failed to convince on the big stage for his country again – and was suspended for the quarter-finals after picking up two cheap bookings in the group stage. He scored twice in the win over Paraguay but was absent from the draws against Costa Rica and Colombia. For his club, Vinicius is a blur of speed. He is inventive in the final third. When he rolls, no defender can stop him. But that player disappears when he pulls on the yellow shirt. Under successive managers, he has struggled to find his role. Should he drive forward from the left? Hold up play in the middle? Drop deeper? Connect the play or initiate it? He ebbs and flows between periods of frustration, drifting without the ball or leading fruitless one-man missions down closed corridors. In 251 minutes at this summer’s Copa, he had double the number from failed touches, such as passes that led to a shot.

But as much as Vinicius carries the creative burden, the failure to involve him more falls on the shoulders of those around him. The forward can only thrive in a structured team with a stable base. And while Vinicius has become the most influential player in the country, the team around him has slid into mediocrity.

Before the match against Uruguay, midfielder Andreas Pereira said that the Brazilian squad was one that Uruguay could only dream of. It was an odd statement. Brazil’s midfield, full of Premier League players, had just been run over by a Colombian midfield full of players from the oft-ridiculed Brasileirão. But it also served as motivation for the players of La Celeste.

“To talk about Uruguay, you have to have a bit more respect,” Luis Suárez said after Uruguay’s victory. “Know Uruguay’s history before you say that there are players who would like to be in the Brazilian national team. Whoever made that comment, [Giorgian] The Arrascaeta’s reserve in Brazilian football [at Flamengo]imagine what it’s like for us to hear that.”

If Pereira’s words seemed toneless before kick-off, they sounded laughable afterwards. Lucas Paquetá, João Gomes, Bruno Guimarães and Pereira were unable to cope with Uruguay’s pressure, just as they had struggled against Colombia. Unable to play through the middle in either match, they had to rely on Alisson to hit-and-hop long balls from the back, frustrating any attempts at building play.

Standing on the sidelines, Dorival could find no solutions. Where Brazil could once rely on Casemiro or Fernandinho to provide strength and tenacity at the base of midfield, they now depend on a midfield trio – Gomes, Guimarães and Paquetá – who are too often spectators.

Only Endrick offers a glimmer of light. The 17-year-old was given his debut as a starter in the quarter-final by Dorival in place of Vinicius. But to expect him to carry the team at such a young age, in a difficult moment, is asking too much. Against Uruguay, he completed just two passes (one from a kick-off), and struggled against the physical strength of La Celeste’s defence.

Endrick could be seen as a savior, but he alone will not solve the structural problems in midfield or the lack of cohesion in the entire team. The reality is that Brazil are now the fourth-best team in South America, behind Argentina, Uruguay and Colombia, who are on a 27-game unbeaten run. Those teams don’t necessarily have more talent than the Seleção, but they all have a clear way of playing and strong, dogmatic coaches.

Unless things improve soon, Brazil could miss out on the 2026 World Cup. And if Dorival can’t stop the spiral, they could be on their fifth manager since 2022.