Further steps in the right direction, but far from the finished article. Brazil’s 2-0 win over Mexico this past Sunday afternoon may have been dulled with monotonous overtones, and, if the hysteria in certain sections of the Brazilian press is to be believed, this Copa America is not actually about winning a title. It is about exorcising the ghosts of 20-odd minutes of madness last July.
The game at the Allianz Parque was the Selecao’s first on home soil since being comprehensively beaten by Holland on 12 July. The next step, prior to embarking for Chile, is Wednesday’s friendly against Honduras in Porto Alegre.