Copa America or Olympics? It was the question dominating focus in the Brazilian media for months prior to confirmation that captain Neymar would lead the quest for gold and sit out of the special centenary Copa America in USA.
Not for the first time, 2016 will see Brazil keep one eye on the Copa but largely concentrate their attentions elsewhere.
The third most successful nation in the tournament’s 100-year history, that the locals often prioritise other competitions can, in some way, be explained by the long periods the Selecao went without - and by the irregular pattern of the Copa itself.
The Copa America is football’s oldest continental tournament and holds a genuine claim to playing a major role in the formation of the first World Cup in 1930. It was in the Copa that Uruguay cut their teeth before heading over to the Paris Olympics of 1924 to wow the Europeans and walk to gold.
Brazil, along with Chile, Argentina and Uruguay were major players from the outset. The Selecao first won the tournament in 1919, as hosts, three years after its formation. They did so again when they welcomed the competition back in 1922.
But 27 years passed until Brazil’s third title in 1949. There were then 40 barren years until their fourth crown, in 1989. Both titles also arrived on home soil.
Brazil had to wait until 1997 for their first Copa glory on foreign shores. Victories in 1999, 2004 and 2007 subsequently took Brazil to eight titles, which leaves them seven behind Copa kings Uruguay.
But of the 44 editions to date, Brazil have withdrawn from nine. They left the tournament completely after pulling out in 1967, a year that was immediately followed by almost a decade without a Copa America of any kind as the exodus of players to Europe made it increasingly difficult for the continent to gather its best and brightest.
Over the next 20 years, the one-time annual tournament was played on just three occasions prior to its 1987 revival under the current rotational hosting system.
Nevertheless, the Copa America continued to be been taken with varying degrees of importance, as it has throughout a life in which it has had to contend with numerous coups and military dictatorships.
The foundations for the re-emergence of the competition into one of the game’s most eminent showpiece events owes much to the 1996 introduction of a single South American World Cup qualification process. Regular competitive matches saw the likes of Venezuela and Ecuador graduate from whipping boys into genuine opponents.
But with that change came an increased number of internationals and, as the Copa continued its fight to re-establish itself as South America’s most covered crown, the continent’s best players often sat out.
In 2004 Brazil took a B team to the edition in Argentina, lifting the title despite only Kleberson remaining from the squad that had won the World Cup two years previously.
They retained the trophy in 2007 with another B team as coach Dunga had to do without the likes of Ronaldinho and Kaka, who both penned formal letters asking to sit out in order to avoid burnout.
The recent success of the Copa America has largely been down to its place in the calendar, with the 2011 edition the first in decades that was given top priority by the entire confederation. One year after the World Cup, the Copa now kicks off a new cycle of the mammoth CONMEBOL qualifying process, which has now become the most competitive in World Cup history.
This year’s Centenario edition, however, arrives just one-year after the previous Copa, arriving during what was scheduled to be a pause for a number of South American stars who have gone so long without a mid-year break.
A number of sides have hinted that they could take experimental teams to the USA. And scheduled just one month before the Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil have once again focused their attentions elsewhere.