'Horror show' at the Castelão: the Brazilian papers react to the Seleção's 0-0 draw with Mexico

It probably won’t surprise you to know that when the Seleção win, it’s front page news in Brazil. Few countries stop to the extent this one does when their heroes play, so it makes sense that their successes are celebrated.

But the support is not unequivocal, as Wednesday's papers demonstrated. Brazil’s 0-0 draw with Mexico hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons, with local journalists none too impressed with the display at the Castelão.

“No inspiration” read the front page of O Globo’s World Cup pullout. “With Oscar well short of what he produced in the opening game and Neymar tightly marked, Brazil had trouble breaking through the Mexican defence,” wrote Mauricio Fonseca, while columnist Renato Mauricio Prado bemoaned the the absence of any kind of passing rhythm: “We didn’t settle. The biggest sign that we were playing badly was the frequency with which Julio Cesar punted the ball upfield."

Read the rest of this paper round-up on the Mirror website.