Brazil's national team have been a shadow of their former self these past couple of years. In fact, that's probably being kind.
For the longest time, when you thought of free-flowing attacking football with flair, you thought of Brazil, but these days, attacking and flair are two words you'd never level at Brazil.
Brazil have only scored 20 goals in 15 World Cup Qualifiers after last night's 0-0 draw with Ecuador. While that looks like over a goal a game and not too bad, this is Brazil. They should be scoring two per game on an off day.
Newcastle United midfielder Bruno Guimaraes played in last night's goalless draw, and he put in a good shift according to Brazilian media, but he couldn't inspire his side to victory.
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Bruno Guimaraes received decent ratings from the Brazilian press
After the game, the Brazilian media delivered their player ratings with Globo Esporte handing a respectable 6/10 to Bruno, with a write-up that suggests they were harsh with their numbering.
“Impeccable in defence and important in the midfield structure set up by Carlo Ancelotti.
“He won seven of nine duels against the opponents and continued the plays with the ball, even though at times he had to drop back to almost a five-man role to help Brazil’s attack. Tactically extremely important for a team that prioritised defensive security.”
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Bruno Guimaraes took the point but demanded improvement
Conversely, GOAL gave Bruno 7/10, but their write-up suggested they'd been generous.
“Seemed eager to spend most of the game just smashing into people and winning tackles. Effective, but exemplifies the lack of attacking thrust in this team.”
Meanwhile, the man himself took to Instagram to give his assessment of the night's performance.
"An important point due to circumstances!! Only 3 days of training and a lot to improve. We fight and that has to be the spirit from now on. Let's go @cbf_futebol 🙏🏽🇧🇷 step by step."