It is a law of football. Wherever a team fails to live up to expectations, the best players are those who were not on the field. And, as Brazil limp away in disappointment from the Copa América, this makes Neymar one of the winners of the tournament.
True, Brazil were unbeaten in the U.S., but one win in four games tells its own story. New coach Dorival Júnior paraded a young attack; had it fired, had Vinícius Júnior & Co. carved out an exhilarating path to the final, then the page might have been turned. Instead, all roads lead back to Neymar, with Dorival acknowledging that Brazil’s all-time top scorer still has a big contribution to make once he has made a full recovery from his latest injury.
Neymar is certainly still involved. Making his presence felt, suffering in the stands, he was Brazil’s leading supporter in the Copa, and it is easy to see where he might still have a role on the pitch.
Neymar has been out of action since being injured playing for Brazil, under a different coach, against Uruguay in a World Cup qualifier last October. At the time he was dropping to orchestrate play from deep. Former Brazil boss Tite referred to Neymar as both bow and arrow, setting up the play and scoring goals. But as he ages — he turns 33 in February — and as Brazil develop the likes of Vinícius, perhaps his role could be more restricted to being the bow, and specialising as a deeper-lying creator rather than as a finisher.
This is pertinent because the worst aspect of Brazil’s play in the Copa was playing the ball out of defence. They faced the strongest opposition in their last two matches — against Colombia and Uruguay — and appeared unable to advance with the ball, depending instead on a depressing sequence of long punts forward.
It is possible that Casemiro was missed. His cool experience might have steadied a team with a tendency toward the frenetic. Certainly Bruno Guimarães did not seize the opportunity to dominate the midfield. With the Newcastle United man unable to dictate the play, it hardly seemed worth having both him and João Gomes, another ball winner, in the same midfield trio.
If Guimarães was a disappointment, though, then the bigger one was Dorival. As Brazil lurched toward appointing a foreign coach — the original idea was that Carlo Ancelotti would take over for this tournament — Dorival was held up as an instant saviour by those who favour a domestic solution. He was handed the dream of any international coach: a prolonged period training with his players. And so at the end of it all, the apparent lack of a plan for the team to pass its way out of defence comes across as a glaring failure.
If Dorival did not live up to expectations in tactical terms, the same applies to his contribution to the team’s mental approach. Any coach has three main duties: select the team, determine the strategy and set the emotional tone. The new coach was expected to be a calming influence. Instead he appeared to feel the pressure right from the start. The decision to risk Vinícius in a meaningless group game is hard to defend. The team’s most important attacking player picked up a yellow card that forced him to miss the fateful quarterfinal.
Gab Marcotti explains why he agrees with the Brazilian football federation’s decision to keep Dorival Júnior.
Harder to defend were Dorival’s antics on the touchline, waving his arms around in perpetual uptight criticism of the referee. Whether he had a case is irrelevant; this is exactly the type of behaviour that a nervous, frenetic team like Brazil does not need from its coach.
Dorival is also being ridiculed for the scenes before the penalty shootout against Uruguay, when he was outside the huddle formed by the players. This is harsh. He is a low-key figure. It is not his style to be the charismatic centre of attention. Scenes of shootouts in some of his triumphs at club level show him also outside the huddle. He considers this a moment for the players.
It is possible that he has yet to win over some of the senior players. Certainly he has not made an impressive start, but he is an easy figure to underestimate. And if he needs to do plenty to grow into his new job, at least he has time and space to do it.
Brazil are next in action early in September, with World Cup qualifiers at home to Ecuador and away to Paraguay — two teams who will be rushing in new coaches after the Copa. With so many teams making it through to the expanded World Cup, Brazil would seem to be in no danger of failing to make the cut, even though they are down in sixth in the table. Dorival’s immediate response — there would seem to be almost no chance of Neymar being back before October — could be to draft in more players from the local league.
This is always a crowd pleaser. It very seldom works, but this time there might be some merit in calling up new wonderkid Estêvão of Palmeiras, a breathtaking talent, and a couple of domestically based centre-forwards. It is always hard for a struggling side to play without a No. 9, and the squad may benefit from the inclusion of Tiquinho Soares of Botafogo, with his back-to-goal skills, or penalty-area specialist Pedro of Flamengo.
Estevao would seem on course for an important role in 2026. Whether Tiquinho or Pedro would be able to trouble the world’s best defences is another question, but they might be useful in the short term as the team attempts to find its feet.
The good news, then, is that Brazil have nearly two years to build for the next World Cup. The bad news is that, more than 18 months after Qatar, they are starting the process from scratch.