Jonathan Wilson
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Brazil’s Copa América defeat underlined a descent into workaday pragmatism that has longer roots than romanticising marketeers would have you believeIt was not 7-1. It was not an epic humiliation. It was not a result that will reverberate through the generations. But in a sense, Brazil’s Copa América exit to Paraguay is all the more crushing for that. It was not some devastation to be written off as a freak; it was quotidian. Brazil went out of the Copa América by losing a mundane game because these days it is a mundane team; it no longer generates the emotional extremes it once did.
Four years ago, Brazil also went out of the Copa América on penalties against Paraguay, but this was worse, far worse. At least then there was talk of a new generation coming through, a sense that the likes of Neymar and Ganso weren’t quite ready but that they might be soon. If this tournament proved anything it is that Brazil is utterly dependent on Neymar and that he is uncomfortable – as anyone would be – with the pressure.
Related: Brazil 1-1 Paraguay (Paraguay win 4-3 on penalties | Copa América match report
Related: The best goals of the week: Thiago Silva, Jesse Lingard, Eder and Lucy Bronze
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Four years ago, Brazil also went out of the Copa América on penalties against Paraguay, but this was worse, far worse. At least then there was talk of a new generation coming through, a sense that the likes of Neymar and Ganso weren’t quite ready but that they might be soon. If this tournament proved anything it is that Brazil is utterly dependent on Neymar and that he is uncomfortable – as anyone would be – with the pressure.
Related: Brazil 1-1 Paraguay (Paraguay win 4-3 on penalties | Copa América match report
Related: The best goals of the week: Thiago Silva, Jesse Lingard, Eder and Lucy Bronze
Continue reading...
More...