Miguel Delaney argues that Brazil are at huge crossroads having failed their real first challenge since the World Cup.

Having shoved Neymar to the ground, Carlos Bacca then shoved it right in his face.

“I believe that, because of the loss, Neymar took bad decisions like kicking the ball and hitting one of my teammates," the Colombian striker said.

"Later, he gave a head-butt to [Jeison] Murillo. I pushed him to warn him not to do it again."

Bacca was effectively saying the Brazilian superstar couldn’t handle his country’s 1-0 defeat to Colombia, and that portrayal of the incident - which saw both the Sevilla striker and Neymar sent off after the whistle - certainly doesn’t describe a player dealing with it all that well. It cuts to the core of a huge problem that this Brazil squad face, both mentally and on the pitch.

While no-one would ever accuse Neymar of not being able to handle defeat in such a way with Barcelona, the ludicrously disproportionate dependence that the country have on the 23-year-old does seem to create undue pressure on him, and bring out an extreme psychological brittleness in an already limited team.

It was what happened in the World Cup, as Brazil totally collapsed without their brilliant star. It may well happen here, as Neymar is suspended for the last group game with Venezuela. The scenario alone should keep the sirens sounding. On first taking the Brazil manager’s job again, Dunga had attempted to argue that the 7-1 humiliation at the feet of Germany last summer was a “freak”.

Yet, while that may be true in terms of the uniquely historic and emotional scale of that event - which is pretty much the only way to describe it - a first-round Copa America elimination to Venezuela would be embarrassing in itself.

It would also reflect the reality that a bad defeat to Germany, if not necessarily a 7-1, was not freakish in the slightest.

It was coming. Now, Brazil have already lost their first real challenge after that, in losing to Colombia.

They are not that great a side right now, and may well fail to reach the last eight of the tournament. Those are the stakes. This is the state of the team.

You only have to look at the way so much of the dialogue around the side, as well as the play, is dominated by their number-10.

"They know the personality of Neymar and they went in search of him,” Dani Alves said of Colombia.

“They tried to provoke him and make him nervous."

The problem was that Brazil already looked so nervous, and that was because Neymar himself couldn’t provoke any properly attacking play. He admitted it himself: “I didn’t play well either. I acknowledge that and take full responsibility on what happened today.”

What Neymar really needs is someone else to take responsibility too. With the number-10 failing to fire, Brazil failed to come up with anything more imaginative than just uselessly thumping the ball into the box.

Alves attempted to pin the blame elsewhere, taking up his manager’s line by pointing to the referee.

“We are used to this in South America - everyone here is against Brazil.” Those words touch on another mental issue with this current side.

Brazil have a historical superiority complex, and find it difficult to adjust when notionally weaker countries don’t just roll over, but all of that is underscored by an almost subconscious realisation that they themselves are not up to much without Neymar. They are very much a side at a crossroads, and that is the case in this Copa America.

For his part, midfielder Elias preached the right message. “Now we must remain calm. We didn’t want to lose but we can say we’ve lost at the right moment.”

That may well be correct.

Venezuela are an awkward team but they are very far from a Germany or even a Colombia. They could be just enough of a challenge to help this Brazil to learn to cope without Neymar and still come through, for Dunga to impose the winners’ durability he is famous for.

This Brazilian generation don’t want to become infamous for another humiliation.

Shove has come to a big push.

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Miguel Delaney is a freelance journalist.