wilson88 Brazil head coach Dorival Junior has admitted his team’s 0-1 loss to Paraguay in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in the South American zone yesterday was substandard, especially in terms of their decisiveness in burning up their opponents’ defense, and he wants to see Neymar Jr. regain his fitness. wilson88

After 8 match days, ‘Samba’ has lost half of the matches, collecting only 10 out of 24 points. Although they are in the guaranteed final round spot, they only have 1 point more than the 8th place.  ( wilson88 )

A glut of possession means nothing when there is no danger in the opposition’s final third, so much so that the 62-year-old boss hinted that he would like to see a Neymar-style signing in his squad, but he must wait until he is fit to play for Al-Hilal in the Saudi Pro League. 

“We lacked many things in the last game. I take full responsibility for that. I don’t want to point the finger and blame any players,” he said at the post-match press conference at Defensores del Chaco stadium in Asuncion, Paraguay.

“There were many moments of making mistakes, the first half was a complete disaster, we could barely get around the opponent’s goal.” 

“30 minutes have passed, 35 minutes have passed, there has been very little game play, not aggressive enough, on the contrary, Paraguay only had 2-3 chances in the whole game, which were goals.”

“It’s an expensive installment to pay.” 

There has been talk of Neymar returning to the national team after he began training outdoors after undergoing an ACL surgery, and he will be out for a year. Dorival is certainly open to players who can make a difference. 

“First of all, he has to come back to play for his club. Until then, there is no way he will be called up to the national team,” the Samba coach added. 

“We are still in touch, trying to find out about the players’ progress and hoping for a good recovery.”

“Let’s wait a bit. It’s a delicate process. I’d like to see the clubs use the information we’ve sent to build on it.”

“It is useless to talk about athletes who have not had the chance to play for their clubs.” 

Next month, Brazil will return to qualify for the 2026 World Cup against Chile and Peru . The good news is that Barcelona forward Rafinha is free from suspension.