For the first time in six decades, the Brazilian team is in danger of closing a year with more losses than victories. Unless you interrupt your series of bad results (match home with Venezuela and defeats as a visitor to Uruguay and Colombia, all by the World Cup-2026) qualifiers and succeed in beating the current world champion, Argentina, Tuesday, in Maracanã, the CBF team will achieve a historic brand... in the worst possible sense.
In 57 of the last 59 years, Brazil won more than it lost. In 1984 and 2001, there was a tie in the number of games worth three and zero points. And to find a season when the canary team became "in the red", it is necessary to return to the times that the selection was still a two-time world champion.
Year to forget
Between friendly and qualifier commitments, the canary team has already been on the field eight times this year. His retrospect is three wins, one draw and no less than four losses.
While being commanded by interim Ramón Menezes, the team lost two of the three games they played against Morocco and Senegal, two of Africa's leading football forces. The only victory was won over the less traditional good Guinea.
The results did not improve much after Fernando Diniz took office (at first, only until the end of Carlo Ancelotti's contract with the Real Madrid, in June 2024). With the new coach, Brazil even won Bolivia and Peru in the first two rounds of the qualifying. But then the current stumbling sequence began.
And how was 1963?
Sixty years ago, Brazil had a season to be forgotten soon after winning the World Cup for the second time.
In 1963, the world's most important tournament champions lost eight of the 18 official games they played (also had seven wins and three draws).
But unlike now, the team has played a lot of their commitments to an alternate team. Pelé, Coutinho, Zito and cia. only participated in a heavy series of friendly moves between April and May (they faced Germany, England, Italy, Holland and France, among others).
In Copa América that year, Brazil was represented by a team B, without any world champions. The result was very disappointing: the team lost to Paraguay, Argentina and Bolivia and finished the competition in fourth place.
Risk of not going to the Cup?
Despite the sequence of stumbling, Brazil is still within the classification zone for the Cup-2026. The canarinho team occupies the fifth place of the qualifiers, with seven points won, three more than Ecuador, Paraguay and Chile, which appear shortly thereafter.
With the expansion in the number of participants of the World Cup, South America is now entitled to six direct spots for the tournament. The seventh position of the qualification will still participate in a global re-fishing against opponents from other continents.
The next Cup, which will be organized jointly by Canada, the United States and Mexico, will be the first in history with the participation of 48 teams. Between France-1998 and Qatar-2022, the competition had the same form of competition, with the presence of 32 teams.
