Brazil suffers ‘embarrassing’ defeat to great rival Argentina in one-sided World Cup qualifier

By Matias Grez, CNN

(CNN) — Over the years, the famous canary yellow shirt of the Brazil national team has become synonymous with World Cup success, beautiful soccer and legendary players.

However, Brazil fans are having to adapt to a new reality: their team isn’t very good. In fact, it is actually pretty bad.

On Tuesday, an already underwhelming 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign reached its nadir as the Seleção suffered an embarrassing 4-1 defeat away to great rival Argentina.

While the victory meant Argentina officially qualified for the 2026 World Cup, the size of the defeat threw up even more questions for this beleaguered Brazil squad and its hapless manager, Dorival Júnior.

But at the end of a rough evening in Buenos Aires, the size of the scoreline was the least of Brazil’s worries. That Argentina only scored four goals actually flattered Dorival’s team.

It is no exaggeration to say the Albiceleste could – and probably should – have scored seven or eight.

“What we did here today can’t happen again,” Brazil captain Marquinhos told Brazilian TV Globo, per Reuters. “It’s hard to talk about it in the heat of the moment … it’s embarrassing.

“We started the game very badly, far below what we could do and they’re on a great run of confidence. They knew how to play smart … I’m sorry for our fans. It’s not just the coach’s fault. It’s the players’ fault too.

“There’s no secret formula in football where you make a choice and it works out. We can all do better. We have to share the blame. It’s about understanding the moment and being humble.”

To say that Brazil’s defending throughout the contest was amateur-like would be an insult to many amateur players around the world.

Time and time again, Argentina carved its rival open at will. And much of the time Brazil hurt itself, gifting away possession in comical fashion.

The writing was on the wall after only four minutes when two Brazil defenders somehow failed to dispossess Julián Álvarez in the box, allowing the ball to bounce through for the Atlético Madrid striker to poke home the opener.

It was 2-0 just eight minutes later as Enzo Fernández appeared completely unmarked at the far post to tap in Nahuel Molina’s cross that had somehow evaded four Canarinha defenders.

Brazil looked to have been given a lifeline when an error from Cristian Romero in the Argentina defense gifted Matheus Cunha a goal after 26 minutes, but it made little difference.

Alexis Mac Allister made it 3-1 just 11 minutes later, finding himself under no pressure in the box to easily lift the ball over Bento in the Brazil goal.

Giuliano Simeone later made it 4-1 after four Brazil defenders again failed to intercept a low cross – this time from Nicolás Tagliafico – smashing the ball emphatically off the underside of the crossbar.

While Brazil fans were left to lament another poor performance and question what this will mean for Dorival and the team’s chances at next year’s World Cup, Argentina supporters were celebrating again.

The World Cup holder has itself been below par since winning the 2024 Copa América, but still qualified for next year’s tournament in the US, Canada and Mexico with relative ease.

It’s hard to gauge just how good this Argentina team is given how poor the rest of the teams have been in this qualifying campaign. But if Lionel Messi holds off on his international retirement for another 16 months, fans will rightly feel confident of going back-to-back.

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