Bruno Guimaraes and Brazil exited the 2026 World Cup on Sunday.
A 2-1 defeat to Norway in their last 16 match.
You could see what the agenda was going to be from the 12th minute of this match, Bruno Guimarares seeing his poor penalty well saved by the Norwegian keeper.
No matter what else happened in the match, you just knew that the whole narrative would centre on putting all of the blame on the Newcastle United captain if Brazil went on to lose.
Was the penalty a huge moment in the match? Of course.
Was it why Brazil lost the match? Partly.
Quite incredible the pile-on to try and make Bruno Guimaraes the scapegoat for Brazil going out of the tournament. Reality is that Brazil have been very average at best in these finals and it is only really Vinicius Jnr and Bruno who have carried them.
Only Michael Olise has more assists (five) in this World Cup than Bruno Guimaraes (four).
Bruno has been one of Brazil’s best players in all of the matches and certainly I think they would almost certainly have lost against Japan in the previous round without him. He created the late winner with brilliant pass and just like every other game, Bruno has had to do half of Casemiro’s running because he has been so slow and woeful.
So many of the Brazil team aren’t good enough and that was the case against Norway overall. Everybody though wanting to completely ignore the fact that Bruno was key to Brazil winning that early penalty and at the heart of pretty much any decent play they managed.
Endrick came off the bench and failed when one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
Bruno Guimaraes was subbed off with 12 minutes to go and without him on the pitch they conceded within a minute and the killer second 11 minutes later.
Gabriel was totally bullied by Erling Haaland and Brazil very lucky not to concede already due to that failure to handle the striker. A feeble challenge then from the Arsenal defender when Haaland left with a free header to open the scoring and then stood off the Man City star when he scored the second.
The Norwegian keeper made a couple of excellent saves and the reality is that Brazil lost to the better team. This is not the brilliant Brazil of the past, this is Brazil who finished fifth in the South American qualifying group on the same points as such a limited Paraguay side. Brazil only won eight of 18 qualifying group matches and finished 10 points behind Argentina, also behind Ecuador, Colombia and Uruguay.
I always have huge respect for players prepared to take penalties and Bruno Guimaraes has bottle. He took it and didn’t score and as for those claiming Bruno Guimaraes somehow demanded that he took the spot-kick rather than Vinicius Jnr, Carlo Ancelotti made clear that it was the manager’s decision: “Why didn’t Vinicius take the penalty? We did some stats from the last year. The best one to take it was Neymar, then Igor Thiago, then Raphinha, then Bruno, then Martinelli. Bruno Guimaraes was the best on the field.”
As a Newcastle United fan, of course I am wanting to show support for Bruno Guimaraes from that perspective, due to what a brilliant player and leader he is for NUFC. However, this is also a case of fairness. Bruno Guimaraes failed to put a penalty away, just like many others at this World Cup, but overall he has been excellent and as I said earlier, he and Vinicius Jnr have massively carried the likes of Casemiro and others in this match and across the tournament.
The 2026 World Cup group games and knockout schedule for Newcastle United players:
Saturday 13 June
Morocco 1 Brazil 1 (Bruno Guimaraes assist for Vinicius Jnr equaliser)
Sunday 14 June
Curacao 1 Germany 7 (Malick Thiaw and Nick Woltemade unused subs)
Monday 15 June
Tunisia 1 Sweden 5 (Anthony Elanga introduced in the 91st minute when Sweden led 4-1)
Tuesday 16 June
Tino Livramento leaves the England squad and returns to the UK due to an injury picked up in training.
Wednesday 17 June
Portugal 1 DR Congo 1 (Yoane Wissa with a brilliant headed goal to equalise just before the break)
Croatia 2 England 4 (Dan Burn an unused sub as England entertain!)
Saturday 20 June
Haiti 0 Brazil 3 (Bruno Guimaraes stars in comfortable win)
Ivory Coast 1 Germany 2 (Malick Thiaw and Nick Woltemade were unused subs)
Netherlands 5 Sweden 1 (Anthony Elanga brought on at 4-0 down and scored a cracking goal)
Tuesday 23 June
Ghana 0 England 0 (Dan Burn an unused sub in this bore draw for England)
Wednesday 24 June
Colombia 1 DR Congo 0 (Yoane Wissa played the full match as Colombia won with a 76th minute goal)
Scotland 0 Brazil 3 (Bruno Guimaraes with two classy assists to top off an excellent display)
Thursday 25 June
Ecuador 2 Germany 1 (A poor Germany performance despite taking a 2nd minute lead. Ecuador fully deserving the comeback win as Nick Woltemade stayed on the bench but Malick Thiaw did okay when coming on to play the final half hour at right-back)
Friday 26 June
Japan 1 Sweden 1 (Anthony Elanga starting the game and a brilliant long range curling finish that levelled the match and guaranteed Sweden progress to the last 32)
Saturday 27 June
Panama 0 England 2 (Dan Burn an unused sub as England eventually score twice in the final half hour to top the group)
Sunday 28 June
Uzbekistan 1 DR Congo 3 (Yoane Wissa the two goal man of the match as DR Congo turn a 1-0 half-time deficit into a 3-1 win after the break)
Round of 32 knockout matches:
Monday 29 June
Paraguay 1 Germany 1 (Nick Woltemade and Malick Thiaw come off the bench but Germany lose on penalties after extra time, Big Nick one of three Germany players who fail to score in the shoot out)
Brazil 2 Japan 1 (Bruno Guimaraes putting in another excellent performance and a superb pass releases Martinelli to score the winner five minutes into added time)
Tuesday 30 June
France 3 Sweden 0 (Anthony Elanga was Sweden’s best outfield player but Sweden blown away by France)
Wednesday 1 July
England 2 DR Congo 1 (Dan Burn an unused sub, Yoane Wissa puts in a very decent performance as do his teammates but a huge moment when the United striker hits the post instead of scoring scoring just before half-time, at 2-0 down it would have been difficult to see England coming back from that)
Sunday 5 July
Brazil 1 Norway 2 (Bruno Guimaraes yet again one of Brazil’s best players but sees his poor penalty saved on 12 minutes and two Haaland goals after Bruno is subbed off give Norway the win, Neymar a late penalty)
Monday 6 July
Mexico 2 England 3 (An epic match sees Dan Burn come off the bench and play a key role in the ten men of England seeing the win out)