Pull Power of "Seleçāo" Waned?

Neymar Jr said "Goodbye" before made his exit from the Nigeria game due to injury 

The Brazilian national team concluded their whirlwind tour of Singapore that saw them pit against Senegal and Nigeria over the past few days at the National Stadium.

These friendly matches were scheduled as part of the exclusive arrangement between the Brazilian FA (CBF) and Pitch International, a leading sports marketing agency, under the "Brasil Global Tour" package that begun in 2012 which will continue till the 2022 World Cup tournament.

Liverpool's Roberto Firmino (20) made his attempt against Nigeria

POOR CROWD FIGURES 
As compared to the 51,557 that packed the same arena five years ago to witness the "Seleçāo" featured against their Japanese counterparts and saw superstar Neymar Jr. netted all four goals, a paltry crowd of 20,621 turned up for the designated hosts' one-all draw with Senegal on the first night despite having some of the biggest names in the game.

It could probably due to the fact that it was on a weekday that explained the poor turnout at the Brazil-Senegal game, while some cited the pricey admission charges for attending those matches, as reported by the Straits Times.

Some Brazilian fans among the crowds in the Brazil-Nigeria match

Gremio's striker Everton (19) was targetted by some European clubs before extended his contract

Even CBF head of technical development Juninho Paulista also registered his disappointment after the first match in the same news report over the poor attendance by saying "... it is disappointing because we always want to play in front of many fans."

Other than those factors mentioned, another possibility of such lukewarm reception could be the timeframe from the announcement till the realization of the event that coincided with the World Cup qualifiers staged around the region during the same period.

Philippe Coutinho (11) replaced Neymar Jr. early in the game

Compared to the building to other matches of similar scale held recently in the republic, the announcement of the "Brazil Global Tour in Singapore" was only made known to the media via a press release issued by TEG Live, the organizers, on 17th of September, less than a month prior to the first match played on 10th of October.

TIGHT TIMEFRAME
Usually, matches of such scale would see regional fans flown to Singapore to get up close with the marquee names but given short timeframe mentioned, it proved to be a challenge to woo the regional fans let alone having to target the local residents to part their hard earned monies for these friendly games which were subject to criticism from Brazilian coach Tite and some sectors of the local football fans over scheduling of these matches.

Nigeria's Victor Osimhen (9) got ahead of Thiago Silva (3) in this aerial duel

Paul Onuachu (19) flanked by Thiago Silva and Dani Alves (right)

Last ditch effort was made to boast the ticket sales did not seems to work when a slightly lower crowd of 20,385 fans attended the second match between Brazil and Nigeria that saw the match ended with another one-all draw.

It doesn't look pretty for the Brazilians as this result meant they have not win a match in their last four outings, although the bigger question is - has the "Seleçāo" lost their pull power to fill the stands or simply because local football fans would prefer to be on the couch than at the ground?