The Questions Carlo Ancelotti Must Answer to Crown Brazil World Cup Champions

The five-time winners are a bit of an unknown quantity heading into the 2026 tournament.

Carlo Ancelotti is aiming to become the first foreign born manager to win the World Cup. | Daniel Castelo Branco/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images, Alfredo ESTRELLA/AFP/Getty Images, Visionhaus/Getty Images

After five consecutive World Cups of disappointment, Brazil said tchau to tradition and brought in its first foreign manager in Carlo Ancelotti, with the express goal of restoring the Seleção to the top of the soccer pyramid.

The marriage of the winningest national team and winningest coach seemed like a match made in heaven, but it hasn’t been the smoothest sailing since Ancelotti was appointed in May 2025.

The five-time Champions League winner saw Brazil through the final four matches of World Cup qualification, though Brazil could only finish fifth in the CONMEBOL standings—notably struggling at altitude with a draw away at Ecuador and defeat in Bolivia.

Since then, it’s been all friendlies and hard to get a read on exactly how an Ancelotti x Brazil collab will look in a serious competitive environment.

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Brazil hammered South Korea, but lost to Japan, overpowered Croatia but were outshone by France. In the final two warmup games pre-World Cup, Ancelotti’s men beat Panama 6–2 then eked out a 2–1 win over Egypt. It’s all slightly confusing.

Perhaps never before has Brazil entered a World Cup such an unknown quantity. If you read enough pre-tournament previews, you’ll see the record five-time winners predicted anywhere from favorites to also-rans.

The case for Brazil is obvious. The Ancelotti factor alone makes them a serious threat, while few teams at the tournament can boast such a spine of world-class talent—Alisson, Marquinhos, Gabriel Magalhães, Bruno Guimarães, Vinícius Jr, Raphinha.

That said, there are still a number of issues that the manager must address in order for his team to end 24 years of hurt and earn that elusive sixth star.

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Can the Fullbacks Raise Their Game?

Brazil lack top quality full backs | Riquelve Nata/Sports Press Photo/Getty Images

Historically, Brazil produces some of the best fullbacks the game has ever seen. Recently, that has not been the case.

Even before Ancelotti’s arrival the left and right spots were problem positions for Brazil and it is not fully clear who the manager intends to start for the Group C opener against Morocco.

Douglas Santos, a 32-year-old who plies his trade at Zenit Saint Petersburg, started the final pre-tournament match against Egypt and will compete with 35-year-old former Juventus man Alex Sandro—now at Flamengo—at left back.

At right back, the roster has just one specialist option—Flamengo’s 34-year-old Danilo— after Wesley left the team injured in the Egypt match. His spot has since been filled by defensive midfielder Éderson.

Unless the full backs are protected particularly well, Brazil’s potential to go deep may depend on how much Ancelotti is able to get ageing stars like Danilo and Alex Sandro to shine again for the occasion.

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Who Is the Striker?

Matheus Cunha has only ever scored once for Brazil. | Miguel J Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP/Getty Images

Another area of concern is the No.9 role. Richarlison, who started at the last World Cup three-and-a-half years ago has not scored in 12 national team appearances since Qatar and was left off Ancelotti’s final 26-man roster. So too was Chelsea’s João Pedro.

While Raphinha and Vinícius Jr offer incredible threat from out wide, the central options look a lot thinner.

Ancelotti has put his regularly faith in Manchester United’s Matheus Cunha, but the 27-year-old has just one senior goal for Brazil in 23 appearances. Finding a way for Cunha to knit the attack together without needing to be the primary goal threat could be the answer for Ancelotti.

Brentford’s Igor Thiago and Real Madrid’s Endrick are his other center forward options.

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Does the Midfield Have Enough Support?

Casemiro has a big job on his hands. | MAURO PIMENTEL / AFP via Getty Images

Ancelotti has experimented with two up top, but bringing an extra man into midfield during the World Cup—at least in the matches against serious opposition—feels prudent.

Brazil has the attackers to play a 4-2-4, but doing so in pursuit of joga bonito leaves the midfield exposed. Casemiro—released by Manchester United this summer—remains the central fulcrum in the engine room, and is likely to start alongside Guimarães and/or Lucas Paquetá.

At 34, the former Real Madrid star is unlikely to have the energy in his legs to cover all the ground necessary to make up the space left by a marauding, defense-shy front four—particularly in 90°F heat.

How Ancelotti configures his system to help redress the balance and bring control to the midfield, while still indulging his attacking talent, feels like another key conundrum.

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Can Neymar Be Anything Other Than a Distraction?

Carlo Ancelotti has taken a punt on Neymar. | Sarah Stier/FIFA/Getty Images

Neymar’s surprise inclusion in the World Cup roster was met with cheers and tears when Ancelotti read out his list to en expectant crowd at Rio de Janeiro’s Museum of Tomorrow last month.

The 34-year-old has not played for his country in almost three years, and has struggled badly for fitness and form since an ACL tear in 2023. Brazil’s all-time top scorer posted a video of himself weeping and hugging his physio and his fitness coach on social media after finding out that he had been included.

However, for all the celebration of Neymar’s redemption arc, there are serious questions as to whether Ancelotti has just created a major distraction for himself this summer.

Neymar has not trained with the team since they flew out to their New Jersey training base and is still undergoing rehabilitation for a calf injury suffered while playing for Santos in May. Now he’s on the roster, Ancelotti must find a way to make the most of Neymar’s presence rather than allowing it to pull focus.

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