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Trauma is deceptive.
It convinces you that you are no longer good enough. It lingers long after the wounds have healed, whispering doubt into moments that once came naturally.
It does not care if you are Casemiro, with five UEFA Champions League medals to your name. It makes you question your legs. It does not spare Vinicius Junior, one of the world’s most electrifying wingers, or Alisson Becker, one of its finest goalkeepers. Even Neymar, arguably Brazil’s greatest player of his generation, has not escaped its shadow.
For Brazil, that trauma arrived on July 8, 2014.
