Brazil coach Dorival Junior said the national team and players were going through a "difficult time" coming to terms with the rape convictions of former internationals Robinho and Dani Alves. The Brazilian team and national federation had been criticised for their silence concerning the cases of striker Robinho and full-back Alves, both aged 40. Robinho has begun a nine-year sentence in Brazil for taking part in a gang rape in Italy in 2013, while Alves received a four-and-a-half year conviction for raping a young woman in a Barcelona nightclub in 2022.