International friendlies | Brazil 1-1 Nigeria: 3 talking points

#2 Winless run continues for Brazil

Brazil are winless in four matches

After their disappointing quarterfinal elimination at the last World Cup, Brazil responded with a bang in 2019, drawing their first match against Panama, before embarking on a winning run that lasted nine matches and included six consecutive clean sheets, culminating in the Copa America triumph.

However, since then, things have not exactly gone to plan for the South Americans despite the return of Neymar.

Their first game after the Copa triumph ended in a 2-2 draw with Colombia in September, while they fell to a surprise 1-0 defeat to Peru in a friendly just days later (ironically, they had twice defeated Peru by an aggregate score of 8-1 at the Copa America).

The latest international break saw Brazil draw 1-1 with Senegal and everyone including coach Tite and defender Thiago Silva admitted that they had not been good enough. They would have sought to get back to winning ways against Nigeria, but for all their superiority, the Brazilians could not get the winning goal.

The draw means that Brazil have now gone four matches without a win and while they might all have been in exhibition fixtures, the prestige attached to Brazilian football means that it is simply not acceptable.