Carlos da Silva is a streetseller in Rio. During World Cups his stall, by a tree near Ipanema beach, sells Brazilian flags and yellow-and-green kazoos. This year, however, business is down. Of course the bunting is up around the city and the most popular item of clothing is a Brazil shirt, but Carlos's underperforming stall is a good barometer of public opinion.

In a nearby bar designer Rogerio Magalhaes was watching Italy lose to South Korea yesterday over a quick cafezinho before going to work. How did he rate Brazil's chances of winning their fifth World Cup? "If Brazil don't sort out their defence?" he asked with a shake of his head. "We're a cocksure nation. We're always confident about our talent and our luck. Our attitude is that whatever happens things will work out in the end. But if we don't have anyone decent in midfield what chance do we have?"

Brazilian newspapers were overwhelmingly critical of the team's performance against Belgium. Some even said the 2-0 victory was undeserved. Careca, who played in the 1986 and 1990 World Cups said: "Brazil are utterly devoid of a tactical scheme. What they have is complete disorder."

Brazilians tend to be overly dismissive of their team -when they won the World Cup in 1994 the pundits tutted at the team's defensive style and the fact that the final was won on penalties. This time the worry is about the gaps in the middle of the pitch.

"Void between defenders and attackers becomes screamingly obvious," was the headline in the Folha de Sao Paulo, which also offered a meticulous statistical analysis to prove its point. Against Belgium on Monday Brazil passed the ball 296 times, compared to the average of 567 passes a game they made in 1994 and the 449 they managed four years ago.

The reason for the drop in passing, the paper said, was that there was no one to pass to. Brazil have Gilberto Silva just in front of the back three - Lucio, Edmilson and Roque Junior - and Juninho just behind the three-Rs strike force of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo.

Among the players, Juninho has come in for the harshest comment. If the team was decided by plebiscite he would be on the plane home. (Only the subsitute Denilson is as unpopular - "he should be in the circus, not in a football stadium," said one pundit.)

Juca Kfouri, in the sports daily Lance, wrote: "Teams without centre-forwards have been champions. But no team without a midfield has ever won anything. Let's not start now when we have Ricardinho, Vampeta and Kleberson on the bench. Gilberto Silva is being sacrificed in his position while Juninho is turning into a player that he isn't - a crazy person who doesn't pass, doesn't shoot, doesn't tackle, doesn't cross, doesn't do anything."

One positive element to come from the Belgium game, however, was the performance of the goalkeeper Marcos, who has now been canonised for his saves. The front pages heralded him as Saint Marcos and he, in turn, has dedicated his performance to God. "A year ago I had an operation on my hand and didn't even know if I'd be able to play again," he said. "Today I'm here and it is all going well."

Faith and superstition are being talked up. The headline on the front page of O Dia's sports section was "The team that always brings us luck", referring to the talismanic effect England has had on Brazil. On each previous occasion the teams have met the South Americans have gone on to win the tournament.

But this Brazil team have already had their fair share of luck over the past fortnight. First there was the penalty against Turkey and then there was Marc Wilmots' headed goal for Belgium that even the Brazilians admit was wrongly disallowed.

England are being built up as a glamorous Belgium, a team that plays similarly but which have better individual talent. "The English potato is already roasting", heralded the tabloid Extra. "Roll on England, a big fish of world football," wrote Kfouri. "It is well known that Brazil prefer to play - and play better -against equals.

"England have one weak point on the right side of defence, and two geniuses in Beckham and Owen. They are more talented than anyone Brazil have met so far. To lose to England is no humiliation. But to beat them we'll need to change. So, Big Phil, Change!"

A more moderate voice came from Tostao, who played against England in Guadalajara in 1970 and is now Brazil's most reflective sports columnist. "It was a balanced display," he wrote of Monday's game. "The best performance so far, since Belgium are much better than Brazil's previous opponents.

"Apart from a few deficiencies Brazil showed they have what it takes to win the title. It won't be easy against England but no other team in the world has three strikers as good as ours. If Rivaldo and the two Ronaldos were on the other side, the score would probably have been 2-0 to Belgium. But thankfully they play for Brazil."

Before the World Cup Tostao said that he wanted Brazil to lose since only defeat would create the momentum needed to challenge the corruption - from money-laundering to match-fixing - that plagues Brazilian football.

Last week, to much surprise and jubilation, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso signed a law enabling the prosecution of corrupt football club owners. The law was the outcome of the two parliamentary investigations into corruption in the sport that were triggered by Ronaldo's mysterious fit before the World Cup final in France in 1998.

Tostao and the press campaigned loudly for the law, so even if Brazil were to lose against England, they will leave the World Cup feeling more positive than they have been for a long time about the future of the game.

This bodes well for democracy but less so for Carlos the streetseller.

"We need to win," he said. "Come on Brasssiiiiiiiil!"

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