Carlo Ancelotti has not taken long to name the problem. Brazil are out of the World Cup, beaten 2-1 by Norway in the last 16, and the manager has already pointed at the centre of the pitch as the place his rebuild has to begin.
It was Brazil's earliest exit since 1990, and it stung. Erling Haaland scored twice late on to sink a Seleção that had chances and wasted them.
"In the midfield, I think that we have to move some players," Ancelotti said, per ESPN. "We need some young talent, we need some high-level players coming into Brazilian football." Less a soundbite, more a diagnosis.
The evidence was there against Norway. ESPN's analysis suggested that shifting to a 4-3-3 with Ederson might have nullified Norway's possession and shored up a midfield that was being overrun. Ancelotti, it seems, reached the same conclusion, only a round too late.
A defeat turned into fuel
Ancelotti framed the loss as a starting point rather than a full stop. "We are going to take this defeat and use it as fuel for the new cycle," he said, insisting his side are at the beginning of something, not the end.
The margins told their own story. Captain Marquinhos was blunt about it afterwards: "They managed to be effective, while we squandered many of the chances we had." Bruno Guimaraes, third in the penalty order behind Raphinha and Neymar on the staff's own numbers, missed from the spot. Fine lines, familiar pain.
The CBF hold their nerve
There was no managerial cull, and there was never likely to be. Brazil had already handed Ancelotti a contract extension through 2030 back in May, and coordinator Rodrigo Caetano made clear after the Norway defeat that the federation intend to see the project out.
Brazil will keep "continuing our work with the coach through the 2030 World Cup while making the necessary adjustments," Caetano said, per ESPN. What he wants now is "a cycle that proceeds normally, with a little more calmness." That is a lot of patience for a country that has not won a World Cup since 2002 and has just posted its worst finish in 60 years.
Where the kids come in
The current core offers a clue to the urgency. Brazil leaned on experienced midfielders in Casemiro, Bruno Guimaraes and Lucas Paqueta at this World Cup, per CBS Sports, and none of them are getting younger. Ancelotti's call for "young talent" in the middle reads as a warning that the next generation needs blooding now, not in 2029.
The rebuild has a generational edge to it. Ancelotti trusted teenagers at this tournament: Rayan, still 19, travelled as part of the squad, and Endrick, another teenager, offers a striker's promise even after a lean run in front of goal, with six league goals across his last two campaigns.
Others were left waiting. Estevao, one of the brightest young forwards in the Brazilian game, did not make the final cut, with Ancelotti erring on the side of caution over his most precocious names. That call may not survive the reset. Reintegrating that group, and unearthing the "high-level" midfielders Ancelotti keeps asking for, is the real work of the next three years.
The question is no longer whether Ancelotti stays. It is whether he can find, and then fit together, the midfield Brazil have been missing for the best part of a decade. On that, and only that, the road to 2030 will judge him.
Sources
- ESPN
- ESPN
- ESPN
- CBS Sports
- Cover photo: Carlo Ancelotti / CC/Wikimedia (see file page) via Wikimedia Commons.
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