Since winning the World Cup in '02, Brazilian football has not been as good as it has been every year. In the 90s, Brazil was the absolute number one team in the world, occupying the number one position in the world all year round. But in the past two decades, Brazil's dominance has been gone, and their return to the first throne in 2022 once gave us a glimpse of the return of the king, but the results of the 2022 World Cup prove that this is just a mirage.
Over the years, Brazil has been bullied by many teams, if Brazil's biggest nemesis was France, then after the new century, Brazil has fewer opportunities to meet with France, and the last time the two teams met in the World Cup was back in the 2006 World Cup quarterfinals. Obviously, as Brazil is weakening, they have developed a new nemesis. So, which team is Brazil's biggest nemesis since the turn of the century?
In fact, the answer to this question has been given in the last 6 World Cups - during this period, only one team has beaten Brazil twice in the World Cup.
Who else but the Netherlands?
In the quarterfinals of the 2010 World Cup, the Netherlands eliminated Brazil 2:1. In the third and fourth place finals of the 2014 World Cup, the Netherlands defeated the host 3:0 at home in Brazil.
Secondly, in fact, earlier, Brazil was still the nemesis of the Netherlands, in 94 and 98, two consecutive World Cups, Brazil eliminated the Netherlands. But after the new millennium, the two teams reversed roles.
In addition, there is another detail that supports the argument of Dutch Kebasi.
Over the years, Brazil has basically stopped in the quarterfinals of every World Cup, but after beating their opponents in the quarterfinals, they were not lucky in the next World Cup and actually went out of the group. France, Belgium, Germany, all of them.
The Netherlands is the only one that has escaped this Brazilian curse. In the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Cup, it was the Netherlands who eliminated Brazil, but they were still strong in the 2014 World Cup, and they were in a group of death. But I didn't expect the Netherlands to play three consecutive wins, especially in the first round, when they defeated the defending champion Spain 5-1. Such a strong performance completely escaped the Brazilian curse.
Look at France in '02 and Germany in '18, they were not only the defending champions, but also the Brazilian finishers of the last World Cup. And their decadent performance is also in stark contrast to the Netherlands. Also, don't talk about 7:1, this kind of thing is obviously not the norm, and didn't Brazil beat Germany in the 02 World Cup final?
Since the beginning of the new century, although Brazil's overall results in the World Cup are not good, the total number of games lost is not much, which is due to their stable performance in the group stage, except for Cameroon after the early qualification of the 2022 World Cup, the other 5 World Cups have remained unbeaten in the group. So, there aren't many teams beating them, and the Netherlands have taken it twice, which is enough to cast a shadow on Brazil.
Of course, Brazil was unlucky, having met them twice in the new century when the Netherlands was at its strongest. At that time, the Netherlands had famous players like Sneijder and Van Persie, and their strength was far from comparable to what they are now. Actually, I'm looking forward to Brazil and the Netherlands meeting again in the next World Cup, and maybe that's when Brazil will take off the Netherlands' nemesis. If even the current Netherlands can't beat, then Brazil deserves to continue to be in the doldrums.
Do you think the two teams will meet in the 2026 World Cup?