State of Emergency: Brazil can only tie lowly Iraq

The host country’s international woes continued Sunday night when Brazil tied lowly Iraq, 0-0, in group play. Not even seven minutes of stoppage time in a chippy game was able to give Brazil its first goal of the Olympics.

This wouldn’t be a huge deal, if Brazil were, say, Nepal in terms of its skill. But when (soccer) ball is life in Brazil, panic should not be out of the question.

As shocking as this tie is, it just scratches the surface of Brazil’s lack of swag on its home turf.

[Related: Fans chant “Zika” at Hope Solo again, but Solo gets last word in shutout]

Brazil has been held scoreless in its two games during the Olympics. Not only did the team fail to tally a goal against Iraq, which is ranked 99th in the world according to FIFA, but it didn’t score against South Africa, a team that is 67th in the FIFA rankings.

Oh, and South Africa only had 10 men for a majority of the second half.

If you include the zero goal effort that the national team had in the third place game of the World Cup, Brazil has been held without a goal in over 270 minutes on its own field. The Brazilians’ 7-1 loss against Germany seems to have extended into their other games.

Neymar, who skipped the Copa America to participate in the Olympics, will shoulder much of the blame for being unable to scratch against inferior teams, but he is not the only talented member of Brazil. Gabriel Jesus, who just signed with Manchester City, was supposed to be a big contributor on a hyped Brazil attack. However, he has failed to live up to the promise.

While things haven’t gone well for the host country, it still finds itself in position to advance. Denmark sits atop the group with its win against South Africa, which means that Brazil is tied for second place with Iraq. A win against Denmark would assure that the team advances into the elimination round.

[Related: Brazil’s Cristiane becomes all-time leading Olympic goal scorer in 5-1 rout of Sweden]

Despite Brazil’s past World Cup successes, they have been less than great at the Olympics.

The soccer crazy nation has failed to win a gold medal in Olympics. Recently, they were able to win silver medals in 1984 and 1988, and bronze medals in 1996 and 2008.

With the home crowd, and by far the best player in the tournament in Neymar, Brazil should have been in a position to secure a good seed in the elimination round. The only thing the Brazilians have now are disappointed fans, and questions they can’t seem to answer.

Brazil finishes group play against group leader Denmark Aug. 10.