A former Chelsea star has claimed that he fell out of love with Brazil on Monday night despite the Seleção making light work of South Korea in their FIFA World Cup Round of 16 encounter in Qatar.
Brazil made an electric start to the fixture, bagging four unanswered goals before half-time. Tite’s men then took their foot off the pedal in the second-half, cruising through the remainder of the game and even giving minutes to third-choice goalkeeper Weverton.
READ HERE: Brazil Turn Son’s Tears of Joy into Tears of Agony
However, South Korea did manage to a consolation goal towards the end of the game, with the final score being 4-1 to the South Americans.
All of Brazil’s goals, including Neymar’s witty penalty after playing mind games with the South Korean goalkeeper, was a thing of beauty. But what caught the eye and made the goals even more special was the celebrations that followed.
After every goal the Brazilian side would gather in a huddle and do some dances, with Neymar often finding himself in the middle of the circle, serving as an indication of how important and highly thought of he is amongst his peers.
Spurs striker Richarlison scored a beautiful 3rd goal for the Seleção which was applauded by his manager on the touchline. Tite enjoyed the strike so much that he himself got involved in the dancing celebrations.
However, the celebrations seem to have rubbed people up the wrong way, with many pundits labelling the scenes as disrespectful and inconsiderate.
Former Chelsea star Jason Cundy has come out and said he’s fallen out of love with Brazil, claiming they show too much ‘arrogance and cockiness.’
“That is one of the most embarrassing things I have ever seen at the World Cup,” said Cundy on talkSPORT following Monday night’s fixture.
“You’re playing South Korea. I expected Brazil to win comfortably, in fact it was more comfortable than I thought. I got angry when I was watching it.
“I fell out of love with Brazil tonight, I feel out of love with that arrogance, that cockiness. I hope someone sticks it on them. I looked at that and felt cringey.”
Cundy’s sentiments were echoed by legendary former Man United captain Roy Keane, stating their celebrations were ‘disrespectful’ to their opponents.
“I don’t like this,” said Keane on ITV during half-time of the encounter. “I think it’s disrespecting the opposition.
“It’s four [goals] and they’re doing it every time. I don’t mind the first kind of little jig – whatever they’re doing – but they’re still doing it after that and then the manager getting involved with it. I’m not happy with it, I don’t think it’s very good at all.
“I can’t believe what I’m watching, really,” Keane said.
“Brilliant, brilliant from Brazil, fantastic start to the game, South Korea all over the place. I’ve never seen so much dancing – it’s like watching Strictly [Come Dancing]! [I] Can’t believe what I’m watching, I really can’t. South Korea, my goodness, I can’t believe what I’m watching.”
Brazil will be hoping for more reasons to dance this weekend when they face Croatia in the quarter-final on Friday.