Selection starts cycle without coach and with Ancelotti as preferred

The president of the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation), Ednaldo Rodrigueshas centralized the decision on the new coach of the national team.

To avoid leaks of information, he does not talk about the subject with his family and has prohibited employees and directors of the entity from talking about the matter to the press.

It just needed to match the players.

There is almost a campaign publicly promoted by the athletes so that Carlo Ancelotti, 63, currently at Real Madrid, is chosen for the vacancy left by Tite, 61, shortly after the failure in the last World Cup, in Qatar — the Brazilians were eliminated in the quarterfinals, by Croatia.

Still without a defined coach, the Brazilian squad starts this Saturday (25) the new cycle, with a view to the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada.

The group is gathered in the Moroccan city of Tangier, stage of a friendly match with the Moroccan national team, at 7 pm (Brasília time) –Band, ESPN, Star+ and Canal Galvão Bueno on YouTube broadcast.

On the edge of the pitch, the players will be led by interim Ramon Menezes, 50, the coach of the under-20 team, to whom the group has given support in the difficult task of rebuilding the team.

In this first stage, the interim will not be able to count on one of the main pieces of the team. With an injury to his right ankle, Neymar was out of the squad. Even if he was able to play, it is not known if he would be called up, since the athlete himself left his future in the national team undefined after the Cup.

The first group put together by Ramon, however, has 11 remaining members from the last World Cup and nine newcomers, like Rony and Raphael Veiga from Palmeiras.

A likely lineup for the duel with the Moroccans would have: Ederson, Emerson Royal, Éder Militão, Ibañez and Alex Telles; Casemiro, Andrey Santos and Lucas Paquetá; Rodrygo, Vitor Roque and Vinicius Junior.

Although he has players who will certainly be part of the entire cycle, it is difficult for Ramon as an interim player to lay the foundations of the team for 2026.

This mission should be left to the new hire who, in the opinion of the players who spoke publicly on the subject, Ancelloti would be the ideal name for the mission.

The one chosen by the athletes also pleases Ednaldo Rodrigues, but the manager would have to wait until the end of the European season, in the middle of the year, to agree with the coach. This, by the way, would be the maximum period that the CBF estimates to have a new hire.

Despite the fact that the Madrid team is far from Barcelona in the fight for the title of the Spanish Championship, the team is in the Champions League quarterfinals, stage in which it will face Chelsea, and will hardly want to enter into an agreement before concluding its participation in the championship. European.

In April, the entity’s president has a trip scheduled to Europe to try to resolve the issue. To hire the Italian, he would have to have a release from Real Madrid before the end of the commander’s contract, which ends in June 2024.

For Ancelloti, however, it would be worth the wait. There is hardly any consensus regarding a coach for the Brazilian national team. And the idea of ​​a foreign professional has always been strongly rejected — on the eve of the last World Cup, a Datafolha poll showed that 55% of Brazilians were against the possibility.

It was only after the defeat on penalties to the Croatians that this started to be seen in a different way in the CBF.

So much so that, in addition to the Italian coach, the Portuguese José Mourinho, currently at Roma, Jorge Jesus, from Fenerbahçe, and Abel Ferreira, at Palmeiras, would also be among Ednaldo Rodrigues’ favorites.

Spaniard Pep Guardiola is another with enormous prestige, but the CBF itself understands that it would be difficult to get him out of Manchester City. Goalkeeper Ederson, holder of the English team and the new owner of the goal in the national team, said he had a conversation with his coach and heard from him that “there was no possibility” of him leaving the club.

Ederson is among those betting on Ancelloti. “I was even talking to Casemiro, Vini Jr, Militão, there is a great possibility that he [Carlo Ancelotti] come,” he said.

The goalkeeper is not alone. Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior, Real Madrid athletes, praised the boss and revealed conversations with him. “We speak in a joking tone, but all jokes have a bit of truth in them”, said Rodrygo to TV Globo.

“Ancelotti is the best coach I’ve ever had. I have a lot of affection for him, and he has for me. [na seleção] or at Real, he will help me”, commented Vinicius Júnior.

Multi-champion for important European teams, such as Parma, Juventus, Milan, Chelsea, PSG, Bayern Munich, in addition to Real itself, the Italian is used to receiving this type of praise from Brazilians.

Former midfielder Kaká, for example, often says he was the best coach he worked with throughout his career. Former striker Ronaldo is another who often praises the way the coach manages his squad.

“On a daily basis, I could see that he is one of the best, that’s why he won so much, that’s why he’s so respected”, said striker Vinicius Junior.

After the match against Morocco, the team should only meet again in June for a new round of friendlies. The opponents are not yet defined.

The Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, which will be held jointly by Mexico, Canada and the United States, will start in September.

Of the 32 teams that played in the last World Cup, in Qatar, only three still don’t have a permanent coach: the United States, Uruguay and Brazil. The CBF is in a hurry to get off that list.