Fear over Brazil. Beyond the disastrous spectacle offered Tuesday evening in the stands of the Maracana, with new clashes between Brazilian and Argentine supporters, violently repressed with batons in the face by the Rio de Janeiro police, the Seleçao suffered a sadly historic defeat against the Albiceleste. Historic because it is the first home defeat in history in qualifying for a World Cup for Marquinhos’ teammates.
Historic too because we are talking about the third defeat in a row for Brazil, after two successive losses last month in Colombia and Uruguay. Currently, Fernando Diniz’s men occupy the sixth and final qualifying place for the next World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States. So, is there danger in the house? Can we imagine for a single second the great Brazil tripping over itself and missing its first World Cup in its history?
- Rather no, because Carlo Ancelotti (and we shouldn’t mess around either)
We must logically start with no. Already because asking this question so early in qualifying for the 2026 World Cup is clearly intellectual dishonesty. Fernando Diniz’s men have only played six of their eighteen qualifying matches and they will have plenty to make up for in the remaining twelve.
Certainly, this third setback of the stride is a stain on the immaculate yellow tunic of the Seleçao, but it is difficult to imagine the Marqui gang not having a redo during the next days, which will only take place in a year , from September 2024, with the reception of Ecuador and a trip to Paraguay. Especially since at that moment, the pimpim on the bench will no longer be the interim Fernando Diniz but the great Carlo Ancelotti, who normally promised the country of Pelé to join him at the end of the seasononce he has won his 457th Champions League with Real Madrid.
And without wanting to disrespect the former midfielder unknown to the battalion outside the Brazilian borders, who coaches Fluminense in parallel and has had thirteen different experiences in as many years on a bench, the guy does not play in the same court than the man with the circumflex eyebrows. If Ancelotti accepted this marriage, as bling-bling as it is appetizing, with Brazil, it is neither for the mild climate nor to remain in the annals of history as the first idiot to have failed to qualify the mythical selection for a World Cup.
Rather, yes, because we are big crooked followers of chaos theory
We admit, imagining such a scenario is not easy, but with a little imagination and a lot of bad faith, nothing is impossible. If we start from the principle that, as our third B maths teacher at the Quatre-Vents college in Lanmeur told us when seeing the evolution of our results, “it is therefore possible to dig a little deeper after having already touched the bottom”, Brazil could therefore continue on its losing streak.
Launched which does not date from this setback against Argentina, nor from its catastrophic start to the qualifiers, but which goes back many years. Since their last World Cup victory, in 2002, at a time when the great Ronaldo’s hair scratch was fashionable (no), the Brazilians have never gone beyond the quarter-final stage. Finally, yes, in 2014, at home, but the branlouz received in mondovision against Germany (6-1) should have encouraged them to go out “cleanly” in the round before.
Still, the latest results of the Seleçao in the World Cup are likely to worry the most optimistic of its supporters. Especially since Marquinhos and his mental foam when it comes time for knockout matches will still be in the game for a few more years, and Neymar is not ready to return. So why not speed up the process and avoid going through the “elimination in the group stage” box, just to burn everything to start again on a healthy basis? And then we should never underestimate these stories of karma and backlash. Can a country that elected Jair Bolsonaro decently pass through the drops of history’s judgment? Brazil will recover, after all. The proof is that Italy is still standing despite two consecutive absences during the last two World Cups.