“The first game [da Copa] It’s a lot of competence. I see [como] quite normal. Like Endrick, 15 others didn’t play in the starting lineup.”
This was the response of Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti, in an interview with CazéTV this Thursday (18), about the 19-year-old athlete’s lack of space in the Brazilian National Team’s main team at the 2026 World Cup.
On social media, many Brazilians found the use of the word “competence” strange, as if the coach had said that Endrick was not competent enough to be part of the starting squad.
In fact, however, the master used the word in the Spanish sense —competition—, according to language teachers consulted by the Sheet.
“The phrase does not necessarily indicate that Endrick is not competent, but that there is strong competition in the squad for a place on the team”, says Yiliet Garcia.
In Spanish, “competencia’ (without accent) is used mainly with the sense of dispute and competition. “It is not necessarily a false cognate because there is also the sense of competence as in Portuguese”, explains Raquel Frazão.
Ancelotti learned Portuguese very quickly, but still tends to mix Spanish words in his interviews. Before arriving at the helm of the national team, in May 2025, the coach was making his second spell at Real Madrid, starting in 2021.
