Carlo Ancelotti’s challenges in the Brazilian national team – 06/23/2023 – Sport

Hired for 45 million euros (R$ 164 million at the time), Vinicius Junior took some time to blossom at Real Madrid, where he arrived in 2018. Criticized for the difficulty in finishing and without the confidence of coach Zinédine Zidane, he opened the wings only from the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti, in 2021.

Flying the boy from São Gonçalo, now 22 years old, will once again be the Italian’s challenge, in new terrain. If there are no unforeseen circumstances, the coach will take over the Brazilian national team next year, with whose shirt the youngster from Rio has not yet shown the football he plays in Spain.

As the arrangement is verbal, with no official announcement, Ancelotti has not yet spoken openly about his plans. It is no secret, however, the admiration he has for the striker. In the view of the European coach, the green-and-yellow success will pass through the boy’s agile feet.

“He has the Brazilian technique, but he is very strong physically, he makes the difference in the final minutes of the game. And he still has room to grow. He is very serious and one of the best in the world in the next ten years”, he stated.

The 64-year-old coach sees in Vinicius the ability to be the big name of a team, something he hasn’t needed to be yet. Junior left Flamengo as a teenager. At Real Madrid, he has the company of Modric and he had that of Benzema. In the national team, like most of his generation, he has a reverence for Neymar.

This is, since 2010, basically, the owner of the team. No coach dared to question that position, not even in moments of the star’s most blatant immaturity. And no teammate has ever positioned himself as a claimant to the throne – Richarlison tattooed the number 10’s face on his back.

But Neymar is 31 years old and even declared that the 2022 World Cup would be his last. Physical problems are recurrent – ​​he has been out of action since February, when he suffered ligament damage in his right ankle. And, for the first time in over a decade, he is clearly not the best Brazilian player.

The scenario seems set for Vinicius to come out of his shadow.

There is also space at Real Madrid to spread wings. Modric is still Modric, but he will turn 38 in September. Benzema left for Saudi Arabia. And Ancelotti will stay at the club for another year before taking over Brazil. Which, in a way, might even help develop Junior as the guy on the national team.

This, of course, will not be the Italian’s only challenge. The first foreigner to direct the green-yellow formation in more than half a century, he will have to deal with some rejection as a result. A Datafolha survey carried out in December showed that 48% of Brazilians were against an outside coach (a margin of error of two percentage points, more or less).

But the president of the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation), Ednaldo Rodrigues, saw the ideal moment to make the bet. Ancelotti is a professional with a robust curriculum, with four Champions League titles on the sidelines, and has the respect of the highest level football players – Kaká, for example, treats him like the best manager he had.

Carlo also demonstrates a knack for dealing with top athletes and a knack for the press, which will help minimize rejection. With grimaces and good humor, he answers abstract questions with phrases like: “If my grandfather had wheels, he would be a car”.

From a technical point of view, Ancelotti will deal with a team without a cerebral player like Modric. If there is no lack of fast and skilful strikers –at Real, in addition to Vinicius Junior, he has Rodrygo–, there is a lack of organization and play. The sides have been problematic.

Interim commander since Tite’s departure, at the end of last year’s World Cup, Ramon Menezes sought to oxygenate the group and used several of the athletes he had managed in the under-20 national team. The results on the field were not the best: in three games, victory only over the fragile Guinea (4 to 1), with defeats for the also African Morocco (2 to 1) and Senegal (4 to 2).

The next commitments will be in September, already valid for the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers. The dispute three years from now, in North America, will be, in practice, the only thermometer in the commander’s evaluation. The European hopes to be the first coach to make Brazil beat a European in the knockout round of the planet’s main championship since 2002.

Carlo Ancelotti also wants the same result obtained by the national team in 2002. For that, he will need Vinicius Junior.