Can Brazilian fans stop living in the past?

Can Brazil fans stop using their five-time champion glory as a defence for everything? The answer in short is no. A very big no. A no so strong that even asking the question should make you check if you are emotionally prepared for a reply beginning with the number "Five."

Because that is the most powerful weapon in a Brazilian fan's arsenal. Not tactics. Not statistics. Not even an actual argument at this point. Absolute denial and just the number. Five!

I mean, you can check! Throw anything at a Brazil fan, and somehow it will come back to the same answer. Ask about a player's form? Five. Ask about pressing, defending, or why the midfield looks like everyone met ten minutes before kick-off? Five.

And honestly, who can blame us?

When your favourite team’s football history includes legends like Pelé, Garrincha, Romário, Ronaldo Nazário, Ronaldinho, Cafu, and Roberto Carlos, you are not exactly going to respond to criticism like a normal person.

You are going to enter debates with the confidence of someone who personally helped lift the trophy. Because confidence is partly genetic! Even if your biggest contribution to those World Cups was watching highlights years later because you were too busy learning to walk or talk back in 2002.

Your father, perhaps, was the one actually experiencing the madness, waking up, watching Ronaldo score, celebrating, and then spending the next decade reminding everyone: "Brazil’s football prime."

And after hearing that story enough times, somehow you start feeling like you were there too. But unfortunately, you weren't.

However, if your age is above 34, this article is probably not for you. No. Not because you are old. Relax. But because you have one unfair advantage over the rest of us younger Brazilian fans. You actually remember 2002. You remember Brazil lifting the trophy. You remember Ronaldo Nazário scoring. You remember the joy.

Meanwhile, Gen Zs like me experienced that era through YouTube compilations, old photos, and fathers who are still emotionally attached to that bright yellow glory.

Now, before anyone attacks me, saying, "At least we have glory," yes, I know. Calm down. I am a Brazil fan. Even though seasonal, the obsession is no less irrational. Yet, the irrational me found myself asking a question that would normally get my Brazil fan membership revoked on the spot. Not banned. Not suspended. Revoked.

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The kind of revocation usually reserved for a Brazil fan caught wearing an Argentina jersey — not because he lost a bet, not because he was forced to, but because his girlfriend said Messi is "cute."

But jokes aside, after watching the very nation that practically introduced us to “Playing beautifully” stumble to a draw against Morocco in their opening match, then watching Germany casually reopen an old trauma with a particularly uncomfortable number of goals, and finally witnessing Messi complete a hat-trick at an age when most footballers are busy choosing retirement plans...

I started asking myself a question I never thought I would ask: Will we actually get to witness the joga bonito we grew up hearing about from our fathers? Or will our greatest Brazilian memories remain locked inside old YouTube videos where the players are blurry, the audio is questionable, but somehow our confidence is still in perfect 4K?

We don't know. What we do know is this: It is Brazil. A name synonymous with football itself. Maybe the magic is taking a break. Maybe we need to wait. But until then, bear with us if we remain slightly unbearable. Because when your team’s football history is basically a museum full of legends, a little confidence starts becoming part of your daily routine.

And we did not exactly choose the arrogance.

We simply inherited it. And let’s be honest — inheritance has always been a pretty convenient defence. So, until another team comes along and matches that legacy, expect us to mention it at the slightest inconvenience.