Brazil missed the perfect opportunity to truly announce their arrival as one of the favourites at Russia 2018 yesterday after limping to a 1-1 draw with Switzerland. As Spain and Argentina had drawn on Friday and Saturday respectively, while Germany were defeated by Mexico in the match before, Tite’s men failed to capitalise on the errors of their rivals and now appear to be back to square one by putting on what was arguably their most unflattering performance since the charismatic former Corinthians coach assumed the mantle.
“Far From Ideal” was the headline that globoesporte ran for a post-mortem conducted by Alexandre Lozetti, Edgard Maciel and Tossiro Neto reporting from Rostov. “The performance was worse than the result” began the trio before claiming that though the “draw with Switzerland is far from a disaster, a sequence of wrong acts in the first round [or opening game] of the World Cup is unusual and needs to be corrected”.
The Seleção’s superiority in the first 30 minutes was noted, as was Coutinho’s repeat showing as “the best on the field” but Willian and Gabriel Jesus were singled out for making mistakes while it was remarked that the Manchester City striker became the “protagonist of a curious scene” in providing his best moments of the game when “he saw his reserve, Firmino, ready to substitute him”.
UOL Esporte’s own team in Russia, led by Danilo Lavieri, found Neymar to be Brazil’s weakest link, pointing out that when he “hit the ball fast” the team’s moves “put the Swiss goal in danger”. As time passed and the score remained tied however, “the attacker chose to try to solve it alone”. This egoism was also raised by ESPN Brasil pundit Zé Elias, formerly of Corinthians and Inter Milan, who refused to accept that Neymar had been “hunted” by the Swiss and could have passed the ball far more often.
The Brazilian public didn’t go easy on the PSG forward either, with one viewer on Fox Sports Brasil blending a classic Brazilian trait of self-deprecation and criticism of Brazil’s often poor standards of living by remarking that Neymar “dropped [to the floor] more than the internet [connection does in Brazil]”. In the channel’s poll, Tite pipped Gabriel Jesus and Neymar in being found most responsible for the fixture’s outcome.
Elsewhere, there had been a universal air of confidence when Coutinho’s golaço curled in – “Brazil will win this game and will leave Russia a six-time champion, yes” stated one Twitter user Natalia – but widespread despair then dominated with some demanding that Brazil “should score three more or not come back to Brazil” once Zuber’s equaliser had gone in.
For the perceived push on Miranda for Switzerland’s leveller going unnoticed, and not awarding Gabriel Jesus a penalty later on, the officials also received a fair amount of abuse with Cezar Ramos, a stock car pilot, mistaken for the referee and near namesake Cesar Ramos in having his Instagram account bombarded by angry Brazilians. “Why didn’t you give a penalty, thief referee?” one user demanded to know. Ramos, though, took it in good stride – superimposing his head onto the real figure of hate’s body and declaring, in Portuguese, “Follow the game. Get up Neymar, boy!”
