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Brazil suffer embarrassing Copa Centenario exit after Peru handball goal

By on June 12, 2016

Brazil thought it couldn’t get any worse for their national side after the humiliating 7-1 defeat to Germany in the 2014 World Cup on home soil. Two years later, however, and they have moved from one disastrous major tournament to the next as a controversial loss to Peru at Gillette Stadium on Sunday saw the Selecao crash out of the Copa Centenario at the group stages.

This was their first loss to Peru in thirty-one years and their worst performance at a major tournament since 1987. Brazil disappointingly exited the 2015 Copa America at the quarter-final stage but an embarrassment of this magnitude should force the Brazilian Football Confederation to re-evaluate the state of the national team.

Although Brazil are the joint highest scoring team in the Copa group stages thus far, all of their seven goals came in a single game against lowly Haiti, as Dunga’s men were shut out by both Peru and Ecuador.

Tonight, Brazil dominated in the possession figures — superior in all but two five -minute intervals over the course of ninety minutes — but couldn’t find the back of the net. Alberto Rodriguez had a busy night in goal for Peru, denying Gabriel’s weak but well-placed effort early on and another driven shot from the midfielder in the forty-first minute.

Willian also came close from Filipe Luis’ cross but it was Peru who struck first as Raul Ruidiaz bundled home from Andy Polo’s cross. However, it appeared to be a blatant handball and Brazil players immediately surrounded referee Andres Cunha. The referees spent nearly three minutes considering the incident before letting the goal stand but with enhanced video replay, there really wasn’t much to discuss. It was an unfortunate way to exit the tournament, to say the least.

Nevertheless, Brazil should have had the firepower to come out on top in Foxborough, Massachusetts. National team coach Dunga entered the anniversary edition of the tournament with one eye cast towards the upcoming Rio Olympics, signaling his indifference by leaving Neymar, David Luiz, Oscar, Roberto Firmino, Fernandinho and Kaka off of their Copa roster, yet they were still expected to progress comfortably from what had appeared to be a pushover Group B.

They only needed a draw against Peru to progress after Ecuador beat Haiti but the Selecao never got going and such a dreadful exit calls into question the superiority that they often take for granted. Now the Germany defeat has company.

The CFB will likely wait until after the Olympics to give Dunga the sack but under such heavy expectations, only a wild success in Rio will be able to save his job.

Homepage photo credit: Ailura [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikipedia Commons

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.