Brazil were level with Norway when the referee stopped play for water in the second half at MetLife Stadium on 5 July. Fifteen minutes later they were 2-0 down.
Carlo Ancelotti keeps returning to that stretch of the match, and now he has told FIFA it was his own tactical change that let Norway back in.
“If there’s a mistake that I made, which I saw after the game, it’s that I changed the team’s shape after the hydration break, and that cost us control of the game.”
Norway punished the shift. Erling Haaland struck in the 79th and 90th minutes, and Neymar’s converted penalty in the tenth minute of stoppage time was little more than a consolation as Brazil crashed out 2-1 in the round of 16.
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Romario wants the contract torn up
Brazil’s 1994 World Cup winner has been the loudest voice pushing for the sack.
Romario told viewers on his own channel, Romario TV, that no case could be made for Ancelotti to stay.
“He cannot continue as Brazil’s head coach, there is absolutely no reason. If I were in charge of the CBF, I would have gone into the locker room, told him to get lost, and I would have torn up his contract on the spot.”
“The match against Norway was a disgrace. I’d even go so far as to drag him to court. We’ll see what happens next, but he cannot stay.”
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Romario turned on the players too. Endrick spurned a good chance in the 58th minute, and Vinicius Junior handed the first-half penalty to Bruno Guimaraes, who saw his effort saved by Norway goalkeeper Orjan Nyland.
The 1994 winner was scathing about the young forward’s wasted opening.
“A lot of people are saying, ‘Ah, but he’s young.’ F*ck that, he’s young, he has to score the damn goal.”
On Vinicius he was just as direct.
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“Vini Jr. is the protagonist, he’s the best we have in the national team. Take the damn ball, take the penalty and it’s solved.”
The 2030 contract in the way
The problem for the sacking chorus is what the CBF signed before the tournament even began. Ancelotti’s deal, reportedly worth around €10m a year, runs through the 2030 World Cup, and CBF president Samir Xaud has publicly backed the Italian to see it through.
Ancelotti himself has framed the Norway defeat as a starting point.
“A defeat is the beginning of a new adventure. We have to keep improving, to find new ideas. It is not an end, it is the start of a new cycle,” he said the day after the loss.
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