Vinicius Junior seeks to end Brazil doubts ahead of World Cup

Superstar in Spain, doubted in Brazil: Vinicius Junior faces the challenge of convincing his nation ahead of the 2026 World Cup. The 25-year-old Real Madrid forward has been a standout performer at club level, but his contributions for the Brazilian national team have drawn scrutiny.

Ancelotti addresses the elephant in the room

Carlo Ancelotti, Brazil's manager, acknowledged the situation during a news conference before a friendly against Panama in late May. "People sometimes say Brazil don't have a star right now. Maybe that's true," he said. "We don't have a Pele, a Romario or a Ronaldo, but we can have a shared sense of responsibility, and that can be a very powerful thing."

Expectations were high for Vinicius to become the Selecao's leading figure after the 2022 World Cup, where Brazil exited in the quarter-finals on penalties to Croatia. However, doubts have persisted. Following a 2-1 defeat to France in March, a popular Brazilian football panel show, ESPN's Linha de Passe, debated whether Vinicius should be dropped from the starting XI.

The gap between club and country

Vinicius has the most goal involvements for Brazil in the current World Cup cycle, but his numbers remain modest: seven goals and six assists in 28 matches. Cleber Xavier, Brazil's assistant coach during the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, explained the difficulty of replicating club form internationally. "Playing at the same level as he does for his club is complicated," Xavier told BBC Sport. "Once you get to the national team, the reality is much harder than it looks from the outside. At your club, it's different training, a different way of playing, different team-mates, the day-to-day where things happen and develop."

Xavier cited Lionel Messi's journey with Argentina as an example. "He was always questioned about that and only managed to do it in 2022. But that's because Argentina managed to build a team. In Qatar, we faced Croatia and they were almost like a club side because they repeated so many players. That's how you give a player a proper structure."

Vinicius speaks on pressure

Vinicius has not avoided the conversation. In a recent interview with Caze TV, he said: "At our clubs, every three days there's a new opportunity. So if I play badly in two games out of 10, nobody is going to talk about it that much. With the national team, it's a long time between one match and the next. The pressure is always huge and people always expect me to perform at my best."

He added: "If I go to the World Cup, score four or five goals and we become champions, the whole story changes. Then people will say I was preparing myself for the World Cup all along, even in the games where I didn't play well."

Emotional connection missing

A former international manager, speaking anonymously to BBC Sport, suggested that the 2024 Ballon d'Or runner-up suffers from "the anxiety of wanting to be the protagonist." Vinicius has 14 commercial deals, more than any other Brazilian player, reflecting his off-pitch success. Yet he has not inspired the same emotional connection that Neymar still enjoys with the Brazilian public. It is a paradoxical situation: one superstar, past his peak but still loved; another, at the top of his game but still waiting for the same level of affection.