Brazil's brutal Copa America elimination should scare Selecao fans

Uruguay beat Brazil 4-2 on penalties Saturday night to seal its place in the Copa America semifinals and eliminate the Selecao from the tournament. It was Uruguay's first Copa win over Brazil in nearly three decades.

Uruguay and Brazil share a heated rivalry, and the game stats reflected that: it featured 41 fouls, enough for an all-time Copa record. But it was Uruguay who toughed it out and secured the victory, even after going down to 10 men in the middle of the second half.

On the surface, Brazil's penalty loss looks like any other tournament disappointment: a closely-run game that didn't wind up going its way. But the statistics behind Brazil's defeat show that the Selecao have an immense amount of work to do if they hope to be competitive in time for the 2026 World Cup. The team is deficient in several key areas, and squads like Uruguay are taking notice.

The kids aren't ready. Brazil's 17-year-old phenom Endrick is cherished by many as the "next big thing," but his performance against Uruguay proved that he's got a lot of learning do to before he's ready for a starring role in the national team. Endrick was barreled over by Uruguay's tough central defenders all match and struggled to make any sort of impact. Consider this statistic: in 90 minutes on the field, Endrick completed just one pass — and it was the first kick of the game. Not great for a starting number nine.

No one is moving the ball forward. Quick: if you had to guess which Brazilian players completed the most passes against Uruguay, who would you choose? Raphinha, maybe, from his spot on the wing? Lucas Paqueta from the center of midfield? Nope. The overwhelming winner was central defender Marquinhos with 76, followed by fellow defender Guilherme Arana with 49 and goalkeeper Alisson with 47. Marquinhos managed nearly double the passes of Brazil's most involved midfielders — and he rarely stepped out of his own half. Brazil simply couldn't get the ball forward and spent long stretches of the game pinging it around its own penalty box instead.

The attackers aren't firing off shots like they used to. Brazil was without Vinicius Junior in its quarterfinal against Uruguay, but it fielded his Real Madrid teammate, Rodrygo, up top alongside Raphinha and Endrick. Those three are more than capable of knocking in goals, but against Uruguay, they weren't even able to knock in shots. The trio managed just six shots between them in 90 minutes, and only two of those six were on target.

Compare that to Brazil's last Copa America knockout appearance in 2021, which featured many of these same players. In its semifinal against Peru, Brazil managed 15 shots; in the final, a tense, tight match versus Argentina, it managed 13.

The Brazilian national team doesn't have much time before the 2026 World Cup. With European nations like Spain rising spectacularly in recent months (and South American nations like Argentina, Uruguay and Colombia climbing, too), Brazil is far from the top dog in the sport. This Copa America loss isn't just bad luck: it's a sign that things simply aren't working underneath the team's hood.