There is no name in football more evocative than that of Braseew, its mere mention conjuring images of brawls, backyard misadventures and jogo bonito (sponsored by Nike). Even José Mourinho, at his most davkanik joyless, was moved to note that “a team without a Brazilian isn’t a team” – though given he said that after signing Fred, still missing crucial penalties for him almost a decade later, perhaps it was part of some dastardly plan of pathological, exhibition self-sabotage.

But we digress. Given the richness of Brazilian football heritage — an arena in which Mourinho is, of course, the leading expert — it was no shock to wake this morning and discover that the Selecão had been involved in a five-goal thriller overnight. It was, though, somewhat surprising to learn that they were on the wrong end of a 4-1 humiliation by arch rivals, Argentina. In the process, the defending champions cemented their spot in the next competition, the resounding result achieved with the electrifying pace of Enzo Fernández in attack, a central-defensive partnership of Nicolás Otamendi, who retired at least a decade ago, and Cristian Romero, for whom the experience was so relaxing he even avoided his usual booking for endearingly wild GBH.

And it wasn’t even as though Brazil – who managed to win a World Cup with Dunga, Zinho and Mazinho, then again with Roqué Junior, Gilberto and Kléberson, yet fail to win one with Zico, Falcão and Sócrates – are in a fallow period. In their starting XI were Joelinton ­– like Fernandinho before him, mysteriously exempt from the laws governing foul play; Marquinhos; Raphinha; Rodrygo; and Vinicius Jr, suddenly less loquacious about which awards he’s pre-emptively awarded himself. In the event, though, it was Matheus Cunha who scored their consolation goal – just as he did when Wolves lost 6-2 to Chelsea, 5-3 to Brentford, 2-1 to Ipswich and so on. Which is to say that yes, the Daily is tacitly comparing that lot to Matt Doherty, Nelson Semedo and Toti Gomes, and strongly implying that Mourinho was wrong: a team with 11 Brazilians still isn’t a team.

Of course, Brazil will still – no, not thatWill Still – qualify for the 2026 jamboree, along with most of South America. They now sit fourth in the 10-team group, with six nations moving on by right and one given the chance to progress via playoff – or, in other words, it really does take 45 games to eliminate three teams out of 10. So perhaps, to facetiously connect two unconnected things one last time, it’s not just Mourinho with some dastardly plan of pathological, exhibition self-sabotage, but the World Cup itself.

Join Sarah Rendell at 8pm GMT for live updates on Arsenal 3-0 Real Madrid (3-2 agg) in their Women’s Big Cup quarter-final second leg.

In the end, there was more repercussion for everything that happened than Spain winning the World Cup. The first title that the national team won, and it was all … well, tarnished” – Arsenal’s Spanish forward Mariona Caldentey tells Sid Lowe about the stress of winning the World Cup, the battle to win support for women’s football and why she left a successful Barcelona team.

Unfortunately the sound card on my big TV has broken but it didn’t stop me enjoying last night’s exciting last minutes of the MK Dons v Walsall clash. A great advertisement for League Two football” – Michael Madders.

Will there ever be a bigger travesty than Brazil not qualifying, that too when the pool is expanded to 48 teams!” – Krishna Moorthy.

As a budding pedant, I was surprised to hear the commentator refer to an ‘instinctive’ save by the wonderfully brave, and talented Latvian goalkeeper. It was indeed a wonderful save but it wasn’t ‘instinctive’. It was reflexive. Animals have instincts, human have thought, intuition, feelings and reflexes. So said my biology teacher. I need to get out more” – Richard Fernandez.

Send letters to [email protected]. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … Michael Madders, who gets a copy of Engulfed: how Saudi Arabia Bought Sport, and the World. It’s available in the Guardian Bookshop. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we have them, can be viewed here.

Our sister email has been having a chat with Manchester City’s Kerolin about her “big dream of being the best player in the world”.

The former England Under-21s manager Aidy Boothroyd has revealed he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s three years ago. “Psychologically it’s been tough, physically it’s been easier,” he said. “I’m coping well with that because I’m a former footballer.”

Iran have booked their place in the Geopolitics World Cup with a 2-2 draw against Uzbekistan that could put them on a collision course with Donald Trump’s mooted travel ban. Iran is one of 10 countries slated in a recent memo for full visa suspension.

David Brooks rescued a late World Cup qualifying point for Wales in a 1-1 draw in North Macedonia. “I haven’t suffered defeat in [my] short reign but I still felt there was something more,” blathered Craig Bellamy.

Alphonso Davies’s season seems to be over after Bayern Munich said he would be out for “several months” with a torn cruciate ligament in his right knee which happened during Canada’s 2-1 defeat of USA.

In other international news, Norn Iron got a bit of a shoeing at the hands of Alexander Isak and co, going down 1-5 in a dispiriting friendly in Sweden. “It was a tough night but that’s why we took a game like this. I think 5-1 is maybe a bit harsh on us,” sniffed boss Michael O’Neill.

Fifa has cleared a path for Afghanistan’s women’s side to represent their country again but has been criticised for moving too slowly. The world governing body said it would organise training camps, provide staff and arrange friendlies for the team, who have been in limbo since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. But it all comes too late for participation in 2027 World Cup qualifying.

Rangers have been fined €30,000 (£25,000) by Uefa for their fans’ charming banner reading “Keep woke foreign ideologies out. Defend Europe,” during their Bigger Vase match against Fenerbahce earlier this month, which was deemed “racist and/or discriminatory” by the governing body.

Chelsea Women’s chief suit, Adrian Jacob, is to leave the WSL champions for a head of football role at the new World Sevens shindig that will start in Portugal in May. “To all the [Chelsea] players, it has been phenomenal watching you play and win and win and win,” he whooped.

Yet more anxiety is mounting at Reading, who are locked in a three-way tussle between their now-disqualified owner, Dai Yongge, and suitors Rob Couhig and Robert Platek, with the threat of administration or worse hanging over the League One club if a deal is not reached to take the club out of the unpopular Yongge’s hands by 5 April. Matt Hughes has more.

And West Ham are sniffing around 17-year-old Sunderland whiz-kid Chris Rigg, but other Premier League clubs also like the cut of the midfielder’s jib. Graham Potter could offload Tomas Soucek to help make way for him.

It’s long been said that the Premier League, so much richer than every other league, does comparatively poorly in European competitions, not because expense and quality are not interchangeable, and also not because the players, managers and teams aren’t actually as good as Jamie Carragher insists they are, but because other leagues collude with participants to make things easy for them, and the Premier League does not. Sadly for those invested in such narrative, tomorrow night, Barcelona take on Osasuna – despite it still being international fortnight, with Raphinha, who played for Brazil in Argentina, and Ronald Araújo, who played for Uruguay in Bolivia, not considered for selection. Naturally, this is not to the taste of their head coach, Hansi Flick, but rather than pursue the patented Premier League tactic of indefinite whining, preemptively making clear that fault for a poor result lies with everyone but him and giving players an excuse for failure, he noted instead that “the squad has enough quality to overcome anyone despite some players missing”. Six of the past 10 Bigger Cups and six of the past 10 Bigger Vases have been won by Spanish clubs.

Jordan Henderson is a great leader for England. But he has been encouraged and applauded for the very same acts for which minority ethnic players are castigated and stigmatised, writes Jonathan Liew.

Real Madrid have opened up old Liverpool wounds with their move for Trent Alexander-Arnold, writes John Brewin.

John Duerden explains why Mehdi Taremi is such an important figure, on and off the pitch, for Iran, after their qualification for Geopolitics World Cup.

Which international fixture would be worth the highest score in Scrabble? The Knowledge knows – and it also has the best composite image on Big Website this week.

Get to the chopper! There was a low fly-past by what looks like three police helicopters at the official launch of St George’s Park in October 2012. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were in attendance for the event, along with the England squad and the national team manager at the time, Roy Hodgson.