It has been difficult lately for Brazilian football and the national team. Argentina dominates on and off the continent, and the Brazilians are struggling.The Seleção served a new bitter pill to the army of millions of fans tonight in the first match of the Copa America in the USA. The Brazilians played only 0-0 against the underdogs Costa Rica early this morning and drew new layers of disappointment and anger from a frustrated nation that has been waiting too long for some success. Including matches in the World Cup qualifiers, this is Brazil’s fifth competition in a row in which they haven’t won a match. They didn’t even score a goal last night…Experienced expert Dorival Junior was given the chance to lead Seleção as a coach at the beginning of the year after the failure of negotiations with Carlo Ancelotti, and it does not seem to be the solution that was sought. With all their stars, the Brazilians were expected to be better than the modest Costa Rica, but in the end they failed to shake the net of the indefatigable Patrick Sequeira (custodian of the Spanish third division club Ibiza) who had a game of his life last night.##NAJAVA_MECA_8180804##Names like Vinicius, Rodrygo, Paqueta, Raphinha, Marquinhos, Militao, Allison – did not mean much. Substitute young stars such as Savio, Endrick and Martinelli even less. Neymar’s support from the stands was also in vain. It is simply not a team that crushes its rivals with authority, nor is it known who is the leader and who should decide the matches. The Costa Ricans gave a lesson to the Brazilians about team spirit, fighting spirit and sacrifice until the last drop of sweat. Brazil had the ball in possession for almost three-quarters of the game and had 18 shots, of which only four went into the frame of the goal. Costa Rica didn’t have any, but in the end, they ended up splitting the points with the favourites.The attacking trio of Raphinha – Rodrygo – Vinicius seemed unconvincing, individualistic, egotistical from the beginning… They only warmed up Sequeira’s gloves, who entered the match by saving Raphinha’s chance and continued to shine until the end. Vinicius and Rodrygo were falling, asking for penalties, and the Costa Ricans were pumping themselves up psychologically as the match progressed and their net was still. After half an hour, Marquinhos managed to shake the net in stoppage time, but VAR cancelled his goal due to offside.Neymar was confused with Vinícius Júnior being subbed off. pic.twitter.com/UQJIKx4dB7— Ginga Bonito 🇧🇷 (@GingaBonitoHub) June 25, 2024 After an hour of play, the Brazilians began to turn up the pressure. Paqueta hit the post, Rodrygo hit a rival in the head on the goal line, and Savio almost forced an own goal… When those chances didn’t come, frustrations in the Brazilians’ game grew and the ball ‘listened’ to them less and less. Either they were selfish, or they did not know how to build up a dangerous play. Sequeira and the Costa Rican defenders got their wings, they entered the duels more and more boldly and stripped the Brazilians away from their arogance. In the end, the pressure did not bear fruit, the outsiders managed to defend themselves and pull off a big surprise.COPA AMERICAGroup DColombia – Paraguay 2-1 (2-0)/Munoz 32, Lerma 42 – Enciso 69/Brazil – Costa Rica 0-0
