The Brazil coach after the disappointing debut against Morocco (1-1): “The World Cup cannot be won on the first day. In the next match (against Haiti, Friday) we will do better”
“Sorry, I don’t know if I understood the question correctly: would I have delayed the replacements?”. Carlo Ancelotti doesn’t take it well and in this case he’s right. His face is dark when he arrives at the press conference, also because a terrible organization forces him to go through the mixed zone and then end up in the tent where you can’t hear anything and the temperature requires two sweatshirts. He is certainly unhappy with his Brazil. However, he does not accept that anyone criticizes him for the “delayed” changes. But when ever. And in fact he underlines: “Two substitutions at the start of the second half and two after another seventeen minutes…”. In other words: if I wasn’t fast. But they weren’t enough. Brazil disappointed.
NOT A TEAM
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If any team could win in the 90 minutes, it was Morocco. More team, in fact. Beautiful, fast, with notable individuality, Bouaddi above all, and with a collective strategy with a dual register: collective attacks with dribbling and circulation of the fast ball, or lethal counterattacks like the one in Saibari’s goal. Brazil was slow, cumbersome, and the departments were disconnected. Everyone forward and exposed with the ball, midfield two (Bruno and Casemiro) dominated by Morocco’s playmakers always in superiority and, having lost the ball, you could see Igor Thiago, Raphinha and even Vinicius not always returning quickly. From the 4-2-3-1 at the beginning, with the changes we moved to 4-2-4. But more than tactics, there are two things to fix: the team attitude and the choice of men. Matheus Cunha certainly did better than Thiago as a centre-forward, Fabinho had more pace than Casemiro in the middle, and even Luiz Henrique, without overdoing it, did less damage than Paquetà. Former Juve player Danilo suffered less than Ibañez, perhaps because Morocco slowed down a bit in the second half.
INTERVENTION IN THE MEDIAN
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“I’m not talking about individuals,” Carletto repeated. Adding that “in the first half we were anxious, we lost possession of the ball and there was little balance on the pitch. The second half was much better; we will improve for the next match” which will be on Friday against Haiti in Philadelphia. Without a doubt with another formation. Haiti lost by one goal to Scotland, they didn’t sink. Attention. Ancelotti could turn to a thicker midfield, perhaps adding Ederson, ex Atalanta, or more likely Danilo Santos, who came in late, to Fabinho and Bruno Guimaraes, so as to afford a trident of Raphinha, Cunha and Vinicius. The press and fans ask to try Endrick. Behind, on the outside, it may be that Danilo has climbed the ranks. But then a more enveloping and team-based maneuver will be needed. There is no director, even the goal came from an individual action by Vinicius. Morocco moved collectively.
ANCELOTTI KNOWS HOW TO DO IT
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Of course, Brazil had just returned from a dramatic moment, four changes of coach from 2022 to today, and Ancelotti was called to the bedside of a team that theoretically would have names from the final. But the coach has seen a lot: “The trust in the players is total. In football not everything always goes right. When it happens, we have to offer constructive criticism. This is just the beginning of the journey. The World Cup cannot be won on the first day.” But you can’t wait too long either. Brazil hasn’t won since 2002 and the critics are impatient. Yesterday Felipe Melo attacked the coach on SporTV: “Ancelotti is one of the greatest coaches in history, but he cannot afford to make mistakes and make certain mistakes. He fielded the wrong team.” Brazil-Haiti suddenly becomes crucial, just imagine.
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