Brazil are always the sensible bet to win the World Cup until they aren’t any more, and that transition can be jarringly sudden. Croatia had their measure.
Things were supposed to be different this time. Their attacking options were of the absolute highest order. They had two of the very best goalkeepers in the world, one on the bench just in case something happened to their first choice. The swagger had returned. But then again, perhaps that’s been the problem with Brazil for the last 20 years. They always look like the sensible bet until they’re not, and the transition from one to the other can be so quick that once it starts, it’s impossible for anybody to do anything about it.
The colour drained from their cheeks the moment Croatia scored their late equalising goal – the point at which they lost this game. As Brazil’s players stepped up to take their penalties they looked terrified, as though the burden of expectation of 214 million people was suddenly resting very heavily upon their shoulders.
Perhaps this isn’t that surprising. While the ball’s in open play, the background noise can be shut out and you can just get on with the task at hand. But when the final whistle blows you have time to think, time to take in the enormity of the occasion, time for any residual self-doubt to creep into the back of your mind.
Hindsight is 20/20, but it didn’t take much to see the folly behind the order in which Brazil took their penalties. Rodrygo is just 21 years old and was making only his 12th appearance for the national team. His shot was saved by the extraordinary Dominik Livakovic, whose performance throughout the previous 120 minutes had been the finest goalkeeping display of the tournament.
Already one behind and now needing to convert all their remaining kicks, Marquinhos took their fourth having never before stepped up to the penalty spot. Neymar, who we may have considered the gold-standard penalty taker in this team, was held back for a fifth that would never even be taken.
In the build-up to this tournament, comparisons were made between the Brazil team of 2022 and that of 1982. It was well-intentioned, focused on the wealth of attacking options at their disposal, but they turned out to be prophetic in all the wrong ways. Forty years ago, Tele Santana’s team drifted through their first group, scoring 10 in three games, before a 3-1 win over Argentina in the second group stage meant they only needed a draw from their de facto…
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