Brazil have endured so many low ebbs over the past 15 years that it can be hard to remember them all.

The historically embarrassing 7-1 defeat to Germany at their own World Cup? Sure, but don’t forget the moronic reappointment of Dunga as coach in the immediate aftermath or the twin Copa America meltdowns of 2015 and 2016. The doomed, drawn-out pursuit of Carlo Ancelotti has to be on the list, too, as should about six other federation-level failures. You’d need a team of forensic experts to properly sift through all this rubble.

There is also a more recent option that might have passed you by. In November 2023, led by their second interim coach of the year, Brazil welcomed Argentina to Rio de Janeiro for a World Cup qualifier. They lost 1-0, a predictable result that nonetheless tipped the crisis-o-meter towards ‘existential’.

It was Brazil’s third defeat in the first six rounds of qualification. It left them sixth in the 10-team South American group. Venezuela, no one’s idea of a major football power, were above them in the standings. So were Ecuador and they had started the campaign with a points deduction.

The expansion of the World Cup and an extra automatic qualifying spot for the CONMEBOL region (there are now six, with an inter-continental play-off for the nation finishing seventh) ought to have reduced Brazil’s chances of failure to nought. Instead, they were flirting with disaster.

Sixteen months on, the situation is under control. A hard-fought victory over Colombia last week lifted Brazil to third. There is an eight-point buffer between them and seventh. We can say with some certainty that they will be at the 2026 World Cup. The drama is over.

That, though, is not to say that all is sunshine and roses. Indeed, as Brazil prepare to face Argentina for the first time since that reversal in Rio de Janeiro, there is a lingering sense of unease about the direction of travel.

Brazil’s results have improved, but it would be generous to say they have been playing well. They were stodgy in the extreme at last summer’s Copa America and recent matches have followed the same template: there are little spurts of inspiration, most of it individual, but also long periods when Brazil are fretful and frantic. They started well against Colombia but let all momentum seep away, as they often do.

Vinicius Junior’s late winner, a deflected strike from range, owed more to pluck and luck than any collective plan. “I hope it unlocks something,” Vinicius Jr said after the game. He is not the only one.

Dorival Junior, who took over as coach in January 2024, is a likeable character. He arrived with a reputation as a firefighter, someone who could avert the impending crisis. On that count, it’s job done. Mathematically, Brazil are safe. The question now is whether he has the tactical acumen to turn them into a proper team.

The jury is very much out on that one. He says he wants his star forwards — Rodrygo, Vinicius Jr, Raphinha — to play with freedom, but more structure is needed against organised defences. His system can leave Brazil’s two midfielders exposed and he is slow to react to shifts in the pattern of a match. “Sometimes it’s difficult to get your message across clearly,” he said after the Colombia game, an admission that was far more revealing than he can have intended.

Another line from his press conference — “We’ve seen a considerable improvement in every game” — drew the ire of the Brazilian press. “You need a magnifying glass to see any progress,” deadpanned Jessica Cescon of GloboEsporte. “We need something different, a gust of originality,” wrote Tostao, the former Brazil striker.

The juxtaposition with Argentina is a painful one on every level. Few would ever admit to such heresy, but all sensible Brazilian football fans will feel an acute pang of jealousy when they look across their southern border.

Most obviously, there are the trophies. Argentina won the World Cup in 2022, something Brazil have not managed in over two decades and don’t look like doing any time soon. The last two editions of the Copa America have gone Argentina’s way, too. Brazil won that competition in 2019, but that seems a long time ago now. For the past six years, this has been an incredibly one-sided rivalry.

Part of the charm of this period of Argentine dominance is that it was so unexpected. Argentina, like Brazil, spent the 2010s lurching between crises, yet found a winning lottery ticket down the back of the sofa. Lionel Scaloni has not solved every issue behind the scenes — he came close to walking away from the job last year after allegedly falling out with the federation hierarchy — but he has filtered out the noise and the nonsense to transformative effect. Brazil would kill for a little slice of the same.

Dorival Junior took over as Brazil head coach in January 2024 (Evaristo Sa/AFP via Getty Images)

On the pitch, Argentina are everything Brazil are not: settled, drilled, coherent. Obviously, the presence of a world-historical footballer is always likely to swing things in your favour, but Argentina know how to get by when Lionel Messi is absent, as he will be in Buenos Aires on Tuesday. This is Scaloni’s seventh year in charge and you can tell. Brazil’s players, as Marquinhos put it this week, “are still getting to know each other”; Argentina’s dogs of war know each other inside out.

Perhaps the most stark contrast, though, is to be found in the stands and in the streets.

It is impossible to think about Argentina’s World Cup win without remembering those amazing scenes of support and jubilation in the country’s cities: the swaying seas of fans in city squares, the tears, the singing, the lads clinging to telephone poles, hollering themselves hoarse.

Success always breeds attachment, but there is something extra here, genuine communion. Argentines do not just watch these players; they feel in tune with them, represented by them, ennobled by their many attributes. (And, less positively, defensive of their flaws.)

Things are different for Brazil. There is, understandably, no great groundswell of support for the Selecao in its current iteration. More interesting is the lack of any great national outrage about the team and its diminished standing. The overriding feelings are apathy and drift.

This is not a new phenomenon. Brazilian pundits have wrung their hands about the lack of connection between the national team and the public for years, maybe even decades. The players are asked about it all the time. Every game is painted as an opportunity to get people onside, to start forging a new, united front. It’s an impossible thing to track empirically, but the persistence of the discourse tells its own story.

A few factors are usually cited as reasons for the malaise. One is that many national team players have no real links with the Brazilian public, having left the domestic scene before playing much — or any — senior football. Another is that Brazil spent years playing friendlies all over the globe, prioritising revenue over kinship.

Then there are the usual, tired tropes about players caring more about their bank accounts and club teams than they do for their country, an argument completely undermined by the willingness of those same players to cross the Atlantic multiple times per year to get jeered whenever they don’t win 3-0. (It would be unfair to conduct any analysis of the team-fan relationship without noting the strains of entitlement and impatience that exist within the Brazilian fanbase.)

It’s not clear how you solve any of this. It’s not clear that you even can. The best hope, you’d say, is simply to start winning things — to kickstart a virtuous cycle that obscures all of the fissures, much as Argentina did when they appointed Scaloni in 2018.

As Brazil head to Buenos Aires, to another raucous stadium, to yet another exhibition of symbiosis between team and public, they will know that there is a path out of purgatory. Bottling lightning like Argentina did, however, will not be easy.

(Top photos: Getty Images)

JuJu Watkins has taken the college basketball world by storm. But, the Southern California guard suffered a devastating, season-ending knee injury during a second-round game in the NCAA women’s tournament on Monday.

Watkins, 19, was carried off the court in the first quarter of USC’s eventual victory over Mississippi State. ESPN, citing sources, later reported that Watkins tore her right ACL and would miss the remainder of the tournament. A team spokesperson confirmed plans to have the sophomore undergo surgery and then start rehabilitation. 

The heartbreaking moment sparked a considerable amount of reaction across the sports world, with WNBA star Angel Reese being among those who shared a message of support to Watkins.

“Prayers for Juju,” Reese wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, along with a sad-face and praying hands emoji.

Caitlin Clark, the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year, also shared a message of support for Watkins. “Sending all my thoughts and prayers to JuJu. Kid will come back stronger than ever,” Clark wrote on X.

Watkins was fouled as she drove to the basket on a fast break around five minutes into Monday’s game. Her right knee appeared to buckle on the play, which caused her to fall onto the hardwood. She remained on the floor for well over a minute and was in visible pain as she grabbed her knee.

Southern California guard JuJu Watkins (12) controls the ball against Mississippi State guard Jerkaila Jordan (2) during the first half in the second round of the NCAA college basketball tournament Monday, March 24, 2025, in Los Angeles.  (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)

The Trojans’ 96-59 win on Monday secured a spot in the Sweet 16, but losing Waktins will likely have a drastic impact on the tournament’s landscape. USC entered March Madness with a top seed as the program eyed a potential run to a national title.

USC’S RAYAH MARSHALL GETS HELD BACK IN HEATED MOMENT AFTER MARCH MADNESS WIN

Watkins put together an outstanding freshman campaign during the 2023-24 season, and her impressive performance continued this year. The Los Angeles native averaged 23.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 3.4 assists over 33 games this season.

Southern California guard JuJu Watkins (12) reacts on the floor after an injury during the first half against Mississippi State in the second round of the NCAA college basketball tournament Monday, March 24, 2025, in Los Angeles.  (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)

Watkins averaged 27.1 points per game during her freshman year. Clark, the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer across men’s and women’s basketball, is the only player to average more points than Watkins that season.

Watkins earned Big Ten Player of the Year honors and was a unanimous first-team All-American for a second consecutive year. USC will meet No. 5 Kansas State in the Sweet 16 on Friday in Spokane, Washington.

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Puka Nacua already knows when he wants to retire.

It’s not anytime soon, but it’s probably a lot sooner than Rams fans might want to think about right now.

Asked during a recent podcast appearance how he might know when it’s time to hang up his cleats, the 23-year-old star receiver did not hesitate in answering.

“I know I want to retire at the age of 30,” Nacua said on an episode of “Join the Lobby” that went live Saturday.

That’s either six or seven seasons away, depending on when during the start of his fourth decade Nacua (born May 29, 2001) decides to call it a career.

Nacua cited former Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald as his inspiration. Donald was a three-time defensive player of the year and made the Pro Bowl in all 10 of his NFL seasons before retiring last offseason at age 32.

“I think of Aaron Donald,” Nacua said. “To go out at the top, I think it would be super cool.”

But Nacua said he has at least five other reasons.

“I want to have a big family,” said Nacua, who is the second-youngest sibling in a family with four brothers and a sister. “I want to have at least a starting five. I came from a big family, so I need five boys. I want to be able to be a part of their lives and be as active as I can with them.”

Selected by the Rams in the fifth round of the 2023 draft, Nacua was an instant sensation, setting NFL rookie records for total receptions (105) and receiving yards (1,486) and earning a Pro Bowl berth. Last year, he was hampered by a right knee sprain that caused him to miss five games early in the season.

Nacua said he only wants to risk sustaining a major injury for so long before devoting his time to fatherhood and a post-football career that will possibly involve real estate and owning restaurants.

“The injuries are something you can’t control [as] part of the game, so you never know,” he said. “Hopefully, the rest of the career can go healthy, but you have shoulder surgery, you have knee surgery, you have ankle [issues]. By the time my kids could be 18, I could be barely walking if you play the game and sustain all the injuries and stuff like that.”