The national team returns from the World Cup in an even worse situation

== sync, corrected by elderman == @elder_man

Before the game: A fresh start after a frustrating World Cup

The Seleção Brasileira opened on Friday morning, their journey to the next World Cup with a 1-1 draw against Australia in an international friendly.

The game works as a thermometer of Brazil after the frustrating campaign in the last World Cup. The message is disheartening: the National Team got worse in the first match after the Cup. It's natural that a fresh start has few days of training, the weight of the beginning of the European season, the impact of time zone and other instabilities. The problem is that the draw with Australia brought the feeling of repetition: old problems, old dilemmas and the impression that the Cup was just a small solution to the marshy Selection.

First half: Australia dominates and Brazil exposes the fragility of the formation

In the opening 30 minutes, Australia, described as a third-tier team, dominated the match.

The number of shutouts reflects the difference in the period: eight for Australia and only one for Brazil.The first half was painful and exposed known problems.The fragility of the formation with four strikers returned to the center, the flanks continued discreetly, Vini Jr oscillated and the discussion about Endrick deserving or not being a starter remained open.

On the field, Brazil failed to turn presence into control. The team seemed predictable, with no solution to get out of scoring and create continuity.

Second time: discreet improvement, Raphinha wipes out and draws on the last throw

At the end of the first half and in part of the second, the Seleção improved and at least balanced the match. But it was very little. Until Raphinha , the best player in the season opener in Europe, fell into the web of Brazilian bureaucracy and produced almost nothing.

Carlo Ancelotti found a hole that is not today: the scheme of four attackers does not work, but there are no reliable halves to bet all the chips on a kind of 4-3-3, the base used in the Cup.

Lucas Paquetá , a starter in the tournament, has now not been called up. The absence reinforces the central point of the analysis: Brazil still does not have a midfielder capable of resolving team imbalances.

What comes next: Tuesday, new tests and four years to correct

The next friendly is on Tuesday, again against Australia. Ancelotti must change the scheme and look at other players. It's the expected way for the beginning of a long cycle when variations are needed.

In the four years until the next World Cup, Brazil will need to produce players capable of solving the National Team's most chronic problems: the flanks, the breeding sector in the middle and perhaps an striker .

Denilson's analysis of the first post-Cup game was straightforward: "Very bad impression".

Current stage: new cycle, old questions

The draw with Australia marks the beginning of a cycle, not the end of a problem. Brazil begins its journey to the next World Cup with a score that doesn't seem to matter but reveals what the national team needs to correct: repetition of vices, lack of reliable midfielders and dependence on individual adjustments.

The expectation now is on Tuesday's friendly, with Ancelotti observing variations and seeking a form of play that takes the team out of the doldrums. Since his arrival in Brazil this has been far from happening. The new cycle has already begun. The question is whether he will have enough changes to break the old script.