The Joga Bonito style that made Brazilian fans proud for so long looks at risk of extinction. The Seleção failing to get significant achievements in the last few years has been painful for a fanbase that was used to seeing a successful side, but what hurts the most is the feeling that the country’s trademark style of play is lost.
What happened to Brazilian football? Why is the national team struggling so much to look like a country that won five World Cups? Have we seen the end of Joga Bonito, or is it a bit soon to tell yet?
On Sambafoot, we talked with @GingaBonitoHub and @SelecaoTalk to take a deeper look into this situation. Both social media users talk about Brazilian football to an international audience, boasting thousands of followers.
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The 2022 World Cup elimination, followed by Tite’s exit, seemed to take a toll on Brazil. Do you think that’s when things started to go wrong, or the problems had already existed before that?
@GingaBonitoHub: I think the World Cup exit is what really started the problems. Brazil were looked at as heavy favourites and to be five minutes away from a semi-final and have it taken away the way it was definitely affected a lot of the players. Neymar admitted to crying for five days straight, Paquetá said Neymar felt it the most. Rodrygo recently came out and said therapy helped him move on from the penalty miss. We’ve seen Richarlison go back to his club and open up about having depression. The way Brazil lost definitely gave those players a “bottler” reputation in the eyes of the fans and made them not believe and disconnect from the national team.
@SelecaoTalk: I think there’s always an adaptation period when a new phase behinds and a new manager comes in. New personnel, new tactics, new ideas. Especially when there’s a rebuild as in Brazils case, out with the old and in with the new. Phasing out key/important players such as Thiago Silva, and giving a chance to more inexperienced younger talent.
Tite was an extremely experienced, solid coach that set his Brazil team up on a defensive foundation.
It seemed the CBF wanted to go a different approach, and that’s going to take time.
Who’s to blame for the current state of the Seleção? The CBF, the player development or coaching decisions?
@GingaBonitoHub: I think the main blame is definitely the CBF. They got rid of Tite, hired Ramon Menezes temporarily who was TERRIBLE (later failed to qualify to the Olympics with so much talent and got eliminated by Irsael in the U-20 World Cup). They spent so much time pushing for Ancelotti & waiting that they appointed Diniz as an interim. Though this might be a hot take, I believe firing Diniz was wrong. Although we weren’t getting the results, people have to realize that Diniz had to play without many key players such as Neymar, Vini, Militao, Paqueta etc… although the results weren’t there (yet) Brazil were slowly showing signs of improvement and we all know Diniz’s style takes time for players to adapt to because it’s the complete opposite of what the players were used to playing in Europe. Brazil dominated Argentina with Diniz but lost due to lack of finishing. Hiring Dorival without talking to Diniz first threw away so much more time that was invested.
Brazil lost crucial time for improvement with Diniz & Ramon.
@SelecaoTalk: There are many factors. Multi factorial. There’s no one single person to blame. What’s clear is that Brazil football is in decline and has been for a considerable amount of time. Many including myself believe it goes back decades and is the result of Brazilian football losing its identity and its footballing roots/DNA. This process of ‘Europeanisation’ of the game, made worse by the fact Brazils biggest talents are being lost to Europe’s clubs earlier and earlier.
Thoughts on Brazil’s performance in the 2024 Copa América
@GingaBonitoHub: We have players like Vinícius Júnior who plays incredible for his club but is always a shadow of himself when wearing the yellow shirt. Paquetá is very inconsistent, as well as Bruno Guimaraes. Brazil have lacked a true #9 for the past few years and now that we have many in Endrick, Vitor Roque and Marcos Leonardo they don’t event play (Endrick doesn’t start somehow).
@SelecaoTalk: General feeling is still one of pessimism, it always is with Brazilians, so that’s nothing new. Although we are at a dark place from a national team perspective all hope is not lost. We have an exceptional crop of young talent coming through in the form of players like Estevão and Endrick, Sávio, amongst others. Brazil still is and always will be a huge force in world football.
Do you think the Joga Bonito style that Brazil always took pride in is already lost? Does the new generation of players (Endrick, Estevão, etc) look capable of restoring pride in the national team?
@GingaBonitoHub: I don’t think the Joga Bonito style is necessarily dead but it certainly is stale at the moment. We get some flashes of it with Rodrygo and Paquetá sometimes, with Savinho coming off the bench. I think a lot of these players have been too Europeanized at their clubs and it causes them to lose some of their roots, improvising, taking risks, going forward… Except for Vinícius and Rodrygo who are given this freedom by Ancelotti for example. I think Brazil’s new generation with Estevao, Endrick, Gabriel Mec, Wesley, etc; could really bring us joy back. Ultimately it comes down to the coaching and development of these players.
@SelecaoTalk: Never say never, but we’ve been moving away from it steadily for a very long time now. For the time being I think we have to accept Brazil certainly won’t be playing like they did in 1982. However that doesn’t mean the team can’t restore national pride or be successful. There’s a great group of young talent but we also need to be patient, as Argentina were with Scaloni, and not be too reactive. Building slowly towards 2026 and getting the foundations right.
