A first hand account of Brazil’s nightmare semi-final versus Germany, by Samindra Kunti at the Estádio Mineirão in Belo Horizonte. ‘Campeao voltou,” they sang. Brazil’s fans turned the Mineirao, a bowl-like stadium, into a sea of yellow. They had sung the same song at the same stadium against Chile. Then, the bar and Julio Cesar saved them, but this time around there was no saving a feeble Brazil. Germany smothered any of Brazil’s hopes, and July 8 […]
Where do you start? You could discuss everything from Scolari’s selection decisions, Neymar’s absence, Thiago Silva’s absence, or Fred’s absence. You could unfairly comment on Júlio César, who was once third choice at QPR and isn’t even the best goalkeeper in Major League Soccer where he now plays his club football. David Luiz’s irresponsibility as captain, wandering, carelessness, and non-existent defensive awareness. You could use this picture of the Brazil players’ average positions to back […]
Neymar’s absence from the rest of the World Cup has turned into a national crisis. Even Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff chimed in with this message for the main man, in what a cynic might see as a political move to get fans onside ahead of October’s elections… The worrying thing is that no one seems to have a confident answer when asked about the team without Neymar. Even more worrying is the prospect of playing […]
There’s a catchy song doing the rounds on Brazilian TV which has a chorus – “Mostra tua força Brasil” – which translates as “show your strength, Brazil”. During last night’s game, they might have taken this show of strength too far for their own good. The Seleção’s quarter-final against Colombia will be remembered as the match which saw Neymar’s World Cup come to an end. The much talked about “poster-boy” of Brazil suffered a knee […]
Brazil secured the top spot in group A after duly disposing of a Cameroon side who exited the tournament without a single point. The Seleção weren’t entirely convincing as they advanced to the knock-out stages, but progression is the only aim at this stage and the host nation are an intriguing, entertaining prospect heading towards the business end. The starting eleven which was widely predicted before the start of the tournament has been Luiz Felipe Scolari’s mainstay, […]
It’s difficult to believe that it’s over two years since Manchester City midfielder Fernandinho played for Brazil. It’s not that he wasn’t impressive for his previous club Shakhtar Donetsk, after all, Manchester City wouldn’t have paid the massive £35m fee for a mediocre player. For a long time the Ukraine, and similarly Russia, has been the back-burner of the Brazilian talent cooker. Shakhtar have a rich history of successful Brazilian players, and having joined the […]