UOL, an outlet owned by the Folha group which is among Brazil’s media conglomerates, said: “Once again failing to impress, the Brazilian national team thrashed the weak India team — ranked 138th in the FIFA rankings — 4-0 in a routine manner in Kolkata. “Even against a weak opponent, the Brazilian team started the match in a sleepy, sluggish, and uninspired manner. Vini Jr. had plenty of space on the left, but couldn’t take advantage of it and made mistakes in his playmaking. (Translated from Portuguese)”.

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Terra news said that Brazil “left a lot to be desired” in their win over “one of the weakest rivals the Canarinhos have ever faced”.

Leading daily O Globo says that the match looked like a “training session” and that Brazil lacked “offensive impetus”. “Despite their superiority and the scoreline, the Brazilian team failed to translate their control of the match into offensive numbers, creating few chances throughout the game,” said the report.

Former Former Brazil midfielder Felipe Melo was critical of how they played in this game and the two friendlies they played in Australia before that. Brazil only managed to draw the first of the two matches 1-1, which was their first game after their stunning 2-1 defeat to Norway in the World Cup round of 16. They won the second match 4-2. “Brazil has been taking steps backward. The first game against Australia was below what they showed in the World Cup, the second, even though they improved, was also below par. And this third game, despite four goals, was also below par. I’m hopeful that Brazil will improve, but in practice, they’ve regressed compared to their last World Cup game against Norway,” said Melo on Sportv.

Melo accepted the fact that the Brazilians may not be used to playing in the kind of humidity that they had to deal with in Kolkata. However, the former Inter Milan midfielder felt that the players didn’t seem to have the right attitude. “A guy can play badly, but he needs to have the right attitude. Martinelli came on and showed attitude, as did others. Samuel Lino had a bit more attitude and scored two goals. If he had more time, he would have scored more,” Melo concluded.

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Trivela, the Brazilian football news outlet, questioned the sense behind the match for the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), considering the empty seats that could be seen at the stadium. “A lackluster 4-0 victory for the Brazilian team marked the friendly against India this Saturday. It will be a friendly match remembered for failing to achieve even the main objective of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF),” wrote Trivela’s report Carlos Vinicius Amorim in the piece.

“The stadium not being very full raises questions about the CBF’s choice. The friendly match in India is justifiable, something long awaited by the population, but only if it were affordable (for fans).”

The report goes on to state that a number of regions in Brazil has not hosted the national team’s matches for decades. “Instead of playing twice in Australia and once in India with inaccessible tickets, they could serve the population of some of these states.

“Furthermore, the president of the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation), Samir Xaud, promised to get closer to the Brazilian people after the World Cup. For now, it’s just talk,” the piece concluded.