Stubborn Scolari could cost Brazil any hope of home glory

The cover of Brazilian GQ features Brazil coach Felipe "Big Phil" Scolari looking rather dapper – suit jacket, neatly-clipped moustache, ultra-expensive watch peeking out the sleeve of his stripey shirt.

The headline reads “He’s More Important Than Neymar,” and the accompanying story is all about how Scolari’s benign patriarchal presence has moulded the Brazilian players into an unbreakable team unit: “the Scolari Family.”

Last night, on the bench in Fortaleza, Scolari was turned out in the comparatively slobbish outfit of polo shirt, tracksuit bottoms and trainers, with one of his eyes sealed nearly shut by a sty. The gap between the coach's image on the magazine cover and his real-life appearance was roughly the same as that between the side Brazilians hope to see and the one that drew 0-0 with Mexico.

A manager who is famed for his ability to set the right emotional tone sent out a team that looked flustered and dishevelled. Long before the end it was evident that Brazil feared Mexico, and were happy to settle for a draw. Something about this side doesn’t ring true.

It starts with the anthems. Last year, at the Confederations Cup, Fifa told Brazil that they could only sing one verse of their anthem, which is shorter than their preferred version. Rather than submit to the hated Fifa’s diktat, Brazil’s players and fans kept singing after the music stopped playing, creating a memorable and moving impression of defiant unity.

Everyone enjoyed it so much that they kept doing it at the World Cup, but last year's spontaneous outpouring is this year's silly affectation.

The captain, Thiago Silva, had appealed to the crowd to link arms while they sang, like the team does, and when you looked around the stadium you could see many people obeying his request.

“Brazil! An intense dream, a vivid ray of love and hope descends to earth!” sang the Brazilian players and fans, a capella. “In thy lovely, smiling and limpid sky, the image of the Southern Cross blazes!”

It was around that point that Neymar started to cry. He sank into a crouch, overcome by emotion. He covered his face and wiped away the hot tears.

No doubt there will be many in Brazil who enjoyed Neymar’s display of patriotism but it looked more like the hysteria of a young man who has been swept away on a wave of fake emotion. Certainly, it didn’t do his game much good.

Neymar was anonymous in the first half and Brazil cannot afford him to be that. Neymar and Oscar have sole charge of the creative department, and if they don’t turn up for the night, Brazil cannot create.

Scolari says that he prefers to play the national team games in Fortaleza compared to the big cities down south and the reason why was obvious at the beginning of the match last night. The crowd greeted the team with deafening support that was much more emphatic than the somewhat shrill backing they received in Sao Paulo.

Unfortunately for Brazil, by the end most of the noise was being made by 15,000 Mexican fans who were ecstatic at the sight of their team outplaying Brazil on their own turf.

Brazil had made one enforced change, replacing the injured Hulk with Ramires. It was a change that told you a lot about Big Phil. Ramires is a scrapper but he is not as gifted as Willian or Hernanes. However, his relationship with Scolari goes back longer and that seems to be what counts. In the Scolari family, it’s who you know, not what you know.

The team’s problem was exemplified in the person of Paulinho, who has had a disastrous season at Tottenham, but retains his starting place for Brazil because he played well for Scolari last year.

In that Confederations Cup, Paulinho was a dynamic box-to-box midfielder who was capable of winning the ball back and scoring goals. A year on, he is none of these things.

After one particularly witless loss of possession led to a counter-attack he was bawled out of it by his captain Thiago Silva, whose controlled – and occasionally uncontrolled – aggression in defence was the best thing about the Brazil team. Nevertheless, Scolari left him on until the end.

With a player who could barely control the ball pulling the strings in central midfield, Brazil struggled to keep possession and to create quality chances. The best chances were headers by Neymar in the first half and Thiago Silva (from a free-kick) in the second, both of which were brilliantly saved by Guillermo Ochoa, the 28-year-old Mexican goalkeeper who should not be without a club for much longer.

Unlike last Thursday, the referee did not step up to rescue Brazil with a late penalty, even when invited to do so by Marcelo’s ludicrous dive. The 0-0 draw left Scolari with a lot to think about. There is a sclerotic look to this team which will give Spain heart before their likely second-round clash.

Few people in Brazil are familiar with the story of Ireland under Giovanni Trapattoni, but for Ireland fans, the story sounds eerily familiar. With Ireland, Trapattoni settled quickly on a starting team, which was good – but then stuck with it long past the point when he should have changed it, which was disastrous. Will Brazil's coach be too stubborn to change?