‘Not much faith’: the view from Brazil as they prepare to face Scotland

T he big stars have turned up for the 2026 World Cup. Lamine Yamal returned to the Spain team to help them thump Saudi Arabia. Lionel Messi is the tournament’s top scorer, giving Argentina hope of pinning “ la cuarta estrella ” to their shirts. And Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Cristiano Ronaldo are all vying for the Golden Boot as their teams look towards to the next stage. However, the five-time champions Brazil are failing to convince. They finished fifth in the Conmebol qualifying table with 28 points from 18 games, their worst ever qualifying campaign. Being competitive in a 2-1 defeat to France in March, before wins against Croatia, Panama and Egypt in friendlies, perhaps gave false hope. Brazil were lucky to get away with a 1-1 draw against Morocco in their opening game after going behind early and being outclassed for most of the match. Only Vinícius Júnior saved them with a moment of individual brilliance. Anything less than a goleada ( one-sided, high-scoring thrashing) against Haiti would have been deemed a failure. That was the message from back home. Casemiro snippily replied with a sarcastic grimace and look away while bleating “3-0?”, when asked if his team had convinced in their second game. Beating a country that has qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 52 years is not going to win over everyone. …