Still celebrated in those lands without an equivalent object of pride of their own, in Brazil, the Seleção may no longer bring the same gleam to national eyes. The country’s organic crisis has served to dull the glow of that iconic yellow jersey. A national symbol, the shirt has become an object of dispute in an intensely polarized Brazil. Would success at the World Cup go a way toward redeeming it?

It is heartening to see images of celebration on Lebanese or Jamaican or Haitian streets following another victory for the Seleção in Russia, another step towards the Hexa. It may be the benefit of geographical distance, but that footballing gusto seems so much more uncomplicated than it does here in São Paulo. In this football-mad megalopolis, as elsewhere in Brazil, excitement about the World Cup has until recently been muted. Three weeks before kick-off, two-thirds of Brazilians claimed to have little or no interest in the Cup, according to a survey. Fifteen percent did not even know where it was to be held.

It may be that the most passionate Seleção fans are anyway found elsewhere. For most Brazilians, it is club success that really gets the passions racing. It is also notable that the greatest enthusiasm for the national team is found precisely in those parts of the country without big clubs to carry their dreams of glory. The metropolises of the South-East of the country, of which São Paulo is the largest, is not the best gauge for national team zeal. Nevertheless, the diminished standing of the national team demands explanation; the confluence of historical, social and footballing factors laid out.