Brazil's DNA reaps reward

Brazil open their 2024 Copa America campaign against Costa Rica on Monday in Los Angeles with a whole new look almost from top to bottom, with Real Madrid's rising star Vinicius Jr leading a group that were waiting for an opportunity for a fresh start.

After a heartbreaking shootout defeat by Croatia in the World Cup quarter-finals at Qatar 2022, Brazil went through two caretaker managers as they waited for almost an year trying to lure manager Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid.

But after the Italian extended his contract with the Spanish giants, Brazil settled on journeyman Dorival Jr.

Dorival built a reputation as a versatile coach specialising in working his magic as fixer by taking over struggling teams halfway through a season with a remarkable success.

He won the Copa Libertadores and the Copa do Brazil with Flamengo a few months after taking over and when his six-month contract was not renewed he joined Sao Paulo and led them to a Brazilian Cup title before accepting the Brazil job in January.

Dorival had a lot on his plate with the national team as, while Brazil waited for Ancelotti, they went through a spell in the wilderness during which they had historic negative results.

They suffered defeat in three consecutive World Cup qualifiers for the first time, their first loss to Uruguay for 22 years and saw the end of a 58-match unbeaten home streak in the qualifiers, which led to their worst campaign ever with seven points from a possible 18 after six rounds.

Add to that the loss of talisman Neymar, with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his left knee on international duty in October, and Brazil hit rock bottom.

With no Ancelotti and a team in turmoil, Dorival turned his attention to recovering the confidence and self esteem of a young and revamped squad in which Vinicius Jr claimed the responsibility of carrying the load as Brazil's key player.

With two months to prepare for matches against England and Spain, Dorival relied on his players' grit and pride, fixing up a team that was more feisty than colourful.

They got a 1-0 win over England at Wembley and fought back to draw 3-3 with Spain at the Bernabeu earlier this year.

In both games his hero was teenage sensation Endrick, who became the youngest to score at Wembley aged 17 and a few days later got the equaliser against Spain, leaving Real Madrid fans salivating as he is will soon join the European champions.

The Copa America will be the first time Dorival has had time to work extensively with his players, who face Costa Rica following a three-week training camp in Florida before taking on Paraguay and Colombia in Group D.

With most of the attention on world champions Argentina and Lionel Messi, now playing in the MLS, Brazil will start their Copa America campaign without great expectations - something Dorival will be familiar with from his experience at club level.

Brazil coach Tite has said Neymar will need time to find his best form at the World Cup after he scored in a 2-0 win over Costa Rica on Friday.

Neymar played the full match at the Saint Petersburg Stadium and saved his best until the 96th minute, adding a second goal after Philippe Coutinho had broken the deadlock five minutes earlier.

It was only Neymar's fourth game since returning from three and a half months out with a fractured metatarsal at the end of last season.

The Selecao fans breathed a heavy sigh of relief with the team's first win of the campaign. PHOTOS: AFP/Reuters

"He is resuming a process," Tite said. "He played the full match. He is a human being, he needs some time to resume his high standard. Before then there is a team that has to be strong and not depend on him."

Neymar had been denied a penalty after referee Bjorn Kuipers decided to reverse his initial decision following a consultation with the video assistant.

The relief was palpable when Coutinho finally found the net and Tite could not hide his delight as he tripped over while running onto the field.

"I think I kind of pulled a muscle!" Tite said. "I'm limping now after the celebration. We were a bit over-excited."

Costa Rica's hopes of progress from Group E, meanwhile, are over and coach Oscar Ramirez defended his team's ultra-defensive tactics.

"I don't know what else we could have done," Ramirez said.

"What we did I think was perfect. You have to think we were playing against the second best team in the world. They have great players.

"Considering what I have at my disposal and what they have, I think it is reasonable what we did."

Brazilians watched their team's hard-fought win Friday over Costa Rica in a cold sweat but it was Neymar's hot tears that really made the footballing-mad nation sit up.

"Neymar's crying is the big news," declared the Blog do Menon on the leading UOL Esporte website.

The world's most expensive footballer had just scored the second of Brazil's two extra-time goals and getting a monkey off the star-studded team's back. At the final whistle, the striker -- described as a genius by his coach Tite and a petulant brat by his many detractors -- sank to the turf, sobbing.

"It's one of the big images of the World Cup: Neymar, alone, collapsed and in floods of tears," the UOL esporte blog said. "These were the tears of a football player. The tears of someone who cares."

In this interpretation, Neymar's 97th minute goal was the moment when the PSG goal machine finally got his groove -- and the much-hyped Brazil team along with him.

But what if that much emotion after beating a supposedly far inferior team points to crackups yet to come?

"It's not normal to cry in the second game of a World Cup," Brazil's biggest newspaper, O Globo, headlined the main article on its website after the drama.

While acknowledging that Neymar has had a torrid buildup to the tournament, with surgery for a broken foot bone and a hugely disappointing first game against Switzerland, Globo said the tears were just too much.

"A team needs to demonstrate mental strength, not fragility. Genuine or not, Neymar's crying is worrying," Globo said. "It was either the symptom of troubling instability or it was a return of Neymar's narcissism that Neymar had managed to control so well for nearly the whole match."

And while Brazilians at live screenings of the game around the country erupted in joy at the win, there was withering criticism of Neymar for his apparently over-theatrical fall in front of the Costa Rican goal -- leading to a penalty being overturned on VAR analysis.

"His artistic gesture cost Brazil the penalty," Globo TV commentator Galvao Bueno said on air.

Brazil's poor performance in their goalless draw against Costa Rica in their Copa America opener on Monday has dampened the enthusiasm surrounding their new manager and a revamped squad headlined by Vinicius Jr.

After a gritty 1-0 win over England at Wembley and a hard-fought draw 3-3 with Spain at the Bernabeu earlier this year, fans were optimistic that Brazil had turned a corner under Dorival Jr but his side had no answers to Costa Rica's five-man defence in California.

As the clock ticked down and the five-time world champions' frustrations grew, Dorival decided to make his first two substitutions in the 70th minute.

His decision to take Vinicius out of the game came as a huge surprise.

Even Brazil talisman Neymar, who is recovering from a serious knee injury but was at the stadium as a fan, could not hide his dismay.

The broadcast showed his reaction in the stands when the stadium speaker announced the change, exclaiming "Vini?" repeatedly, with his arms open, looking at his friends in disbelief.

Vinicius arrived at the Copa America as a strong contender to win the Ballon d'Or after a hugely successful season with LaLiga winners Real Madrid.

The 23-year-old netted their second goal against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final as Real claimed a record-extending 15th European crown.

The jet-heeled forward torments defences and always seems to come to the fore when the pressure is at its highest, scoring 24 goals for his club last season.

He was rarely substituted by Real manager Carlo Ancelotti, who often said Vinicius was at his most dangerous late on in games and gave the forward the freedom to roam across the front line.

Things are different with Brazil.

Vinicius is deployed as more of an orthodox forward wide on the left and has scored only three goals in 31 games for Brazil.

Dorival's decision to take him off on Monday brought back memories of the 2022 World Cup quarter-finals, when then manager Tite also substituted Vinicius early in the second-half against Croatia, a game Brazil ended up losing on penalties.

On Monday, Vinicius struggled to make an impact from the left wing and exited the game without a shot on target.

Dorival said he tried moving Vinicius around before replacing him with 17-year-old forward Endrick.

"We tried with him on the wing and we didn't succeed. Then put him inside and we couldn't find a way through either ... he was very well marked," Dorival said.

"We had to find a solution, I was trying to make a change. We tried various alternatives, several situations were created, but in the end we were unsuccessful with our finishing."

The challenge for Dorival in Brazil's upcoming games will be finding a way to balance their attack without sacrificing his best player.