Brazil: A Pale Shadow Of Its Glorious Past

Brazil going out at the group stage in the Copa America may be surprising but the news that the Selecao have since sacked their coach Dunga doesn’t come as a surprise at all...

- Himanshu Dhingra

Since the summer of 2014 there have been three footballing events involving the South American teams and Brazil’s performance in all three of them has been utterly underwhelming. In the semifinal of the 2014 World Cup the team were thoroughly humiliated by the eventual champions Germany 7-1 in Belo Horizonte. The same team was dumped out of the Copa America in the knock out stage by Paraguay in 2015. However what has happened this year at Copa America would have been unimaginable just a few short years ago. This year the team hasn’t even reached the knock out stage, going out in a group that had Peru, Ecuador and Haiti. Yes, the circumstances were controversial but you still expect better from Brazil, and some of the performances on the pitch were just dreadful.

Add to the disappointment of the Copa, The Selecao are currently 6th in qualifying for the 2018 World Cup after 6 games with just 9 points in their kitty. This is a type of position from which team will not be able to qualify for the event in Russia. Performances have been poor in the qualifying matches of the World Cup as well, with only two wins over lowly Peru and Venezuela and draws against Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. Brazil missing the World Cup, unimaginable it may have sounded a few years ago but now looks a very real possibility especially if players don’t pick up their form.

Brazil going out at the group stage in the recently concluded Copa America may be surprising but the news that the Selecao have since sacked their coach Dunga doesn’t come as a surprise at all. And that is the second time that the 52 year old has been sacked after he was previously dismissed after the team exited the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.