'Not much faith’: the view from Brazil as they prepare to face Scotland | Tom Sanderson

Debate is raging back home about whether Neymar, Casemiro, Endrick – and others – should be in the World Cup team against the Tartan Army

The big stars have turned up for the 2026 World Cup. Lamine Yamal returned to the Spain team to help them to thump Saudi Arabia. Lionel Messi is the tournament’s top scorer, giving Argentina hope of pinning “la cuarta estrella” to their shirts. And Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Cristiano Ronaldo are all vying for the Golden Boot as their teams look towards to the next stage.

However, the five-time champions Brazil are failing to convince. They finished fifth in the Conmebol qualifying table with 28 points from 18 games, their worst qualifying campaign. Being competitive in a 2-1 defeat against France in March, before wins against Croatia, Panama and Egypt in friendlies, perhaps gave false hope.

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