The tortuous path that led Carlo Ancelotti to the Brazilian team gives him little time to fix the house until the 2026 World Cup. It also establishes a singular scenario, in which the 65 -year -old Italian has much more to gain than to lose.
He had arrived shortly after the Qatar World Cup, by the end of 2022, he would have seen himself in the face of the responsibility of building a brick brick team with an appropriate time. But the CBF spent two and a half years more concerned with political and judicial issues than with sports projects, and now Ancelotti arrives as a candidate for Salvador of a homeland that is not his own.
If the selection fails, it would not be Carletto’s fault – as he is called by Falcão, his companion in Rome player times. The task of bringing to the world title that has had three erratic coaches in the last 29 months, among interim and almost that, with only 50% use in the qualifiers.
On the other hand, if the national team triumphs, it was much because of Ancelotti, which will expand its mystique. A mystique built with faces, tactical malleability and remarkable ability to deal with players, whether they are promising young people, established stars or medium athletes.
In the trajectory that made the most victorious club coach in European football, Carlo saw four players win the golden ball under their wings. One of them was the Brazilian Kaka, who took the prize in 2007 at Milan, and considers him the best coach he worked with.
To stay in the most flashy curriculum items, Ancelotti is the only coach with five titles from the world’s largest club championship – they both like Milan player – and also the only one to triumph in the top five European national leagues. A bad World Cup, in the unfavorable conditions that present themselves, will not diminish its prestige.
The Italian of Reggiolo, for the first time, will direct a selection. Will exchange the day to day life of the biggest charge for results in the world in Rio de Janeiro, with a house bench by CBF, perhaps in Leblon, probably in Barra da Tijuca, with $ 5 million dripping each day 5. Not that it is easy to work a serious selection technician, but with a maximum of two games a month, the daily tasks will be quite different from those he would have in a team.
The first matches are scheduled for June, against Ecuador and Paraguay. It will only be the beginning, it is true, but these are two of the remaining four matches in the qualifiers. Then, before the World Cup, there will be only friendly. The deadline is very short.
Embies in Guayaquil and Sao Paulo will give an Ancelotti Plan a good sample, coach who likes to do the simple and to adapt to the cast, not to force the opposite. Since Brazil has a portion of talented fast strikers and no big sock, it is expected to bet on a quick game, counterattacks-with more transition and less construction, in terms of modern football.
It was under the direction of the Italian at Real Madrid that Lépido Vinicius Junior became one of the best players in the world. The young man from São Gonçalo will be urged to be a protagonist, a role that has difficulty embracing in the team that has been Neymar since 2010.
As far as, Ancelotti has already talked to Neymar informally, in video call. He knows how to deal with stars without bowing to them and is the first coach of the national team since Felipão version 2002 with size to face the big names.
Ancelotti, note, is coming to the Brazilian team because Real Madrid has released him, keeping an eye on the promising Xabi Alonso. But it is a strong brand to the point of breaking a barrier, having become the first permanent foreign coach of the team.
Previous experiences with foreigners in 1925, 1944 and 1965 lasted a maximum of 19 days. Few remember Uruguayan Ramón Platero, Portuguese Joreca and Argentine Filpo Núñez in the selection.
Carlo Ancelotti has a chance to be remembered. And there’s nothing to lose.
