Brazil’s Copa América campaign ended with a quarter-final defeat to Uruguay on penalties and their disappointing tournament was made worse by arch-rivals Argentina winning their record 16th title. Their underwhelming performance shone the spotlight on the current predicament of the Seleção. Brazil has the second most valuable international squad in the world but they even struggled through their group, drawing against Costa Rica and Colombia.
Discounting the 4-1 win over Paraguay, Brazil only managed one goal in their other three games despite having an abundance of attacking talent, including Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, Raphinha, and Endrick. Brazil have also struggled badly in qualifying for World Cup 2026 as they currently sit sixth in the CONMEBOL table with just seven points from six games. Brazil’s yellow jersey is iconic and synonymous with success and thrilling football – so what is going wrong? Transfermarkt’s Brazilian football experts have provided incredible insight as we analyze their Copa América troubles.
What went wrong at Copa América?
Brazil exited Copa América with a whimper but their previous lacklustre performances never instilled confidence that they could return from the United States victorious. Legendary Brazilian attacker Ronaldinho predicted their demise before the tournament as he eviscerated their style of play and stated he’d no longer watch them. He posted: “That’s it, folks. I’ve had enough. This is a sad moment for those who love Brazilian soccer. It’s getting hard to find the spirit to watch one of the worst teams in recent years, it has no respectable leaders, only average players for the majority. I’ll repeat, our performance has been some of the worst things I’ve ever seen. Such a shame.”
Ronaldinho’s apathy was shared by Brazil icon Ronaldo, but they entered the tournament with the most valuable squad on Transfermarkt. However, they’ve been unable to live up to that billing under new manager Dorival Júnior as Transfermarkt’s Brazilian expert Marcos Watts explains: “Brazil has a very good squad, especially when compared to other Copa América teams who outperformed the Brazilians – being the second most valuable in the world – with great players like Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo and Alisson. But, as it happens to many other nations – like England – the pressure when representing the country is so high that these players who are brilliant for their clubs simply underperform and ‘lose their sparkle’.
“In terms of preparation, Dorival Jr has only managed Brazil for four matches before the Copa América. You can’t expect any manager to build a major competition-winning side in five months, especially since we’re talking about one of the highest-pressured managerial jobs in football. That is, obviously, a consequence of the Brazilian Football Confederation’s(CBF) lack of planning and overall management capacity and shows how Brazil still has a long way to go back to its glory days. It’s never only about the players or the manager or the preparation – it’s a mix of things not working as they should all at once.”
Vinicius Junior’s Struggles for Brazil Compared to Real Madrid’s Excellence
Vinicius Junior inspired Real Madrid to their 15th European Cup last season, scoring in the final against Borussia Dortmund. The 24-year-old is the favorite to win the prestigious Ballon d’Or award and he became the joint most valuable player in the world at €180m after a €30m upgrade in the most recent La Liga update. But Vinicius has failed to replicate his brilliance with Real Madrid across the last few seasons with Brazil and he accepted responsibility for their exit – despite missing the Uruguay defeat through suspension.
“Vinicius is probably the biggest example of Brazil players failing to bring their club form to the national team,” Watts added. “At Real Madrid, he’s arguably the best player in the world and he’s been for the last few seasons, fighting for the Ballon d’Or. But with Brazil, he looks average and struggles to lead the team to success. The same ‘loss of personality’ happens with many other stars in the squad, which creates a leadership issue amongst them and we still see a team that misses a ‘real leader’ like Neymar was.”
Was it too soon for Endrick?
Brazil regularly produces players who are viewed as generational talents and the future of the national team. Endrick is considered the next great hope and the 17-year-old will complete his move to Real Madrid this summer after the Spanish giants agreed a €47.5m deal with Palmeiras in December 2022. The third-most valuable teenager in the world scored against England and Spain early in his Brazil career but he was a bench option at Copa América until Dorvial Jr thrust him into the quarter-final from the start. Endrick endured a miserable game as he struggled to get involved and he only completed one successful pass as Brazil crashed out.
Watts explains: “With Endrick there was an excessive sense of ‘protection’ from the CBF and from manager Dorival Jr as he was barely used because they didn’t want to ‘risk putting too much pressure on him before the right time’ – as the manager declared in his press conference. So that translated into giving Endrick a few minutes per game and only adding him to the starting XI when Brazil didn’t have one of their main stars upfront with Vinicus Jr being suspended. This is arguably worse for a young star who was already on his way to become a started for the Brazil team and resulted in a lack of real game-changing opportunities for him and very likely a poor amount of motivation when he got on the field.”
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