The first defeat for the Japanese team this Tuesday (14), in turn, joins other historic negative results accumulated by the Brazilian team over the last two and a half years, in the current cycle for the 2026 World Cup.
In the first post-2022 World Cup friendly, under the command of Ramon Menezes, then coach of the under-20 team who temporarily took over the main team after Tite’s departure, Brazil was defeated 2-1 by the Morocco team, fourth placed in Qatar.
It was Brazil’s first defeat to the African team. In two previous meetings, Brazil had won 2-0, in a friendly in 1997, and 3-0, in the 1998 World Cup.
Afterwards, the team beat Guinea 4-1 — the only triumph under Menezes’ command — and suffered another unprecedented defeat against Senegal, 4-2. In the only previous meeting, the two teams had tied 1-1, in 2019.
Reconciling work at Fluminense with the Brazilian team, Fernando Diniz took over in the middle of 2023 and also started to accumulate negative marks.
In the Qualifiers, he was the coach in charge of the national team that lost two consecutive matches in the qualifying tournament for the first time, to Uruguay and Colombia, extending the unprecedented negative streak with a defeat to Argentina.
The defeat to the Argentine team, marked by great confusion with fans at Maracanã, also represented Brazil’s first defeat in the Qualifiers playing at home, with Fernando Diniz fired by the then president of the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation), Ednaldo Rodrigues.
With Dorival Júnior, Brazil was dominated and beaten 4-1 by Argentina, at the Monumental de Nuñez, in Buenos Aires, in the worst defeat in the history of the Brazilian team in the Qualifiers. The worst defeat until then was 3-0 to Chile, in 2000.
The setback also represented the first time that Brazil had been defeated by rivals Argentina in both qualifying games, resulting in the fall of Dorival and the arrival of Ancelotti.
The Italian now goes down in history as the coach who led the team in its first defeat to Japan.
Until then, there were 13 meetings, with Brazil winning 11 and two draws.
The only time Japan had beaten the Brazilian team was at the 1996 Olympic Games, in which the Asian team won 1-0, in a game valid for the first round of the under-23 tournament.
