How Brazil’s World Cup disaster could change the nation

Another headline read “Historic disgrace.” The impact of such a monumental blow will likely echo for months and years to come. Here’s how.

It buried the Maracanazo. The Brazilian story ahead of the World Cup focused entirely on the trauma of 1950, the last time Brazil hosted the tournament. A surprise 2-1 defeat to Uruguay in Rio de Janeiro in what was basically the final (the tournament followed a different structure then) led to a moment of national reckoning: The team that lost was vilified and shamed. Brazil was so haunted by that upset that the team did away with its customary white shirt in favor of its now iconic yellow one. Despite winning more World Cup titles than any other nation, the entire build-up to this tournament seemed to be about Brazil burying the ghost of 1950 — the Maracanazo, named after Rio’s main stadium.

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And now the Maracanazo may be forgotten, but only because it has been replaced by the far more ghoulish Mineiratzen.

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