Brazil Press Slam Selecao ‘Horror Show’ against Mexico

Brazilian media on Wednesday urged their World Cup favorites to pull their socks up after a goalless draw with Mexico held up passage to the second phase.
Folha de Sao Paulo did not mince its words with a scathing attack. “Brazil played badly. It’s their worst start since 1978 and sows doubt as to their ability to face the big (teams) at the Cup,” the paper lamented.
The same paper added a commentary which described a “horror show” by Luiz Felipe Scolari’s men.
O Estado de Sao Paulo found Brazil had been undone, nonetheless, not so much by themselves but by the brilliance of Mexican keeper Guillermo Ochoa, who produced an inspired performance.
“The Selecao were not that good against Mexico, a gutsy and disciplined opponent.
“But they could have left the field as victors had it not been for the excellent showing of keeper and match hero Ochoa.”
Estado — and Rio paper O Dia — drew attention to Marcelo’s failure to win a penalty after going down under pressure in the box.
In their opening game against Croatia, Fred had earned a controversial spotkick and Globo quoted skipper Thiago Silva as storming “if there hadn’t been so much talk about Fred the referee would have given it today.”
O Dia quoted Marcelo as saying “he pushed me so I thought, ‘penalty.’ But referee Cuneyt Cakir “didn’t fall for it,” O Dia noted. The same paper swooned over Ochoa’s “miraculous stops which prevented Brazil from winning — notably his “fantastic” stop from a Neymar header which drew widespread comparison with Gordon Banks’ leap to deny Pele in 1970.