{"id":783567,"date":"2026-07-06T22:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T22:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/783567\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T22:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T22:54:14","slug":"these-guys-are-losers-brazil-berated-back-home-after-defeat-by-norway-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/783567\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018These guys are losers\u2019: Brazil berated back home after defeat by Norway | Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"

The wait for the hexa \u2013 the record-extending sixth World Cup \u2013 continues. Brazil\u2019s 2-1 loss to Norway <\/a>in the last 16 of the World Cup on Sunday means they have gone six tournaments in a row without being crowned champions. Some in Brazil are calling it the reverse hexa.<\/p>\n

As you would expect, the reaction back home has been scathing. Neto, the former international who is now a pundit on Radio Bandeirantes<\/a>, laid into the current crop of players. \u201cIt\u2019s a generation that won fuck all,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are six players who won one Copa Am\u00e9rica and that\u2019s it. It was embarrassing from the beginning and everything that happened before that game. It was a shameful campaign and these guys are losers. It\u2019s a generation of lies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlo Ancelotti, who was praised for his interventions<\/a> during Brazil\u2019s 2-1 win against Japan in the last-32 stage<\/a>, has not been spared. Cah\u00ea Mota, writing in Globoesporte<\/a>, said the manager\u2019s substitutions against Norway only made the team worse: \u201cThe Sele\u00e7\u00e3o are out of the World Cup and Ancelotti\u2019s plan failed. Brazil bet on a booby-trap game: they gave the ball to Norway and bet on a transition at speed. It worked very little.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe penalty missed by Bruno Guimar\u00e3es would have given the game a different shape, but the Sele\u00e7\u00e3o bet big on a style that does not match its tradition and they did not know how to be lethal when they had chances. You can\u2019t even regret it. You can\u2019t say there was injustice. You can\u2019t even say the defeat happened but we played like\u00a0Brazil.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brazil had 34% possession against Norway, their lowest in a World Cup match since records began in 1966. Such a statistic is an embarrassment in the eyes of Mauro Cezar Pereira, one of the country\u2019s leading pundits. \u201cIt\u2019s shameful to see a Brazil team, which for years has relied on marketing ploys like \u2018joga bonito\u2019, having a strategy to give the ball to the opponent and only play in transition,\u201d he said. He believes this \u201ccowardly\u201d style will never be acceptable to Brazilians, adding: \u201cThe poor quality of Carlo Ancelotti\u2019s work is embarrassing.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have been calls for Ancelotti to be sacked, with the country\u2019s football association also taking flak for giving him a new four-year contract a few months before the tournament began. The manager\u2019s handling of Neymar<\/a> has divided fans. Neymar\u2019s admirers believe that had he started the match he would have converted Brazil\u2019s penalty in the first half and altered the course of the tie.<\/p>\n

His detractors, however, are convinced that introducing the country\u2019s all-time record goalscorer was the change that cost Ancelotti the most. Neymar moved into the centre of the attack, pushing Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior and Endrick out\u00a0wide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what decided the game,\u201d said Mauro. \u201cFrom the moment he entered, Norway had even more possession. They attacked more and built plays until they scored goals. With Neymar, Endrick and Vin\u00edcius, Brazil became even weaker in combat, in the fight for possession, and were definitely subjugated by the Norwegians.\u00a0Suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neymar won his first cap in New Jersey in 2010, in a friendly against the USA. Now, 130 caps and 80 goals later, he has retired from international football. \u201cI tried,\u201d he said. \u201cIt started here at MetLife Stadium and I finished here. It is now over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many in Brazil would like to see a full reset, with Neymar, Casemiro and his generation moving aside. The more optimistic fans want the country to produce midfielders and full-backs like they did in the old days. The immediate priority is the Copa Am\u00e9rica in two years\u2019 time, which is also likely to be held in the US. If Ancelotti fares as badly at that tournament as he has done at this World Cup<\/a>, do not expect him to see out his \u00a38.5m-a-year deal.<\/p>\n

This is an article by Tom Sanderson<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The wait for the hexa \u2013 the record-extending sixth World Cup \u2013 continues. Brazil\u2019s 2-1 loss to Norway…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":783568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-783567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}