In a country that has won more World Cups than any other and which defines itself by the success of its national team, the second successive limp exit to a European team at the quarterfinal stage was too much to stomach for many fans.
"This is painful. It's a miserable pain," said a sobbing, bikini-clad Maria Elisa as she left Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach where about 20,000 fans, most wearing canary-yellow, endured the 2-1 defeat to the Netherlands shown on a giant screen. Many blamed coach Dunga for fielding a team that lacked some of the country's greatest stars, such as Ronaldinho, Ganso and Neymar.
"What happened was precisely what we all knew would happen before the Cup even started -- a mediocre team, mediocre football," one fan named Anderson Verdao wrote. In Brazil's biggest city of Sao Paulo, disconsolate bankers, builders and other workers trooped back to their workplaces or consoled themselves with more beer as they analysed the defeat.
Published 03 July 2010, 16:46 IST