It\u2019s a tough crowd, in other words, and trying to meet its near-impossible demands with the patchy Brazilian squads of recent years is a task that has chewed up many good football men. <\/p>\n
Big Phil Scolari, the coach of the 2002 winners, was brought back as a talisman for the home World Cup in 2014 only to be engulfed in the flames of the Mineirazo 1-7 defeat to Germany. <\/p>\n
The gentlemanly Tite, a sort of therapist for the nation, was popular enough to get away with his first World Cup elimination in 2018 but could not survive the 2022 quarter-final defeat on penalties to Croatia. <\/p>\n
After cycling through three more coaches in two years, in 2025 Brazil finally turned to its first foreign manager: Carlo Ancelotti. They hoped the five-time Champions League winner would have the stature and experience to rise above the chaos and find the path back to glory. <\/p>\n
But Ancelotti\u2019s first match at the World Cup was a slap in the face to all of Brazil. They were torn to shreds by Morocco in the first 30 minutes and in the end lucky to escape with a 1-1 draw. <\/p>\n
The captain Casemiro was substituted at half-time \u2013 not a good look \u2013 and his replacement, Fabinho, fared little better in the second half. Both players may be past their peak years, but Brazil\u2019s problem was structural. <\/p>\n
The centre-forward, Igor Thiago of Brentford, had a great first two-thirds of the Premier League season before the goals dried up in the last few weeks. His record as second top-scorer in the league after Erling Haaland got him a start in Brazil\u2019s opener. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s always difficult for a target-man centre-forward to play with two inverted wingers like Vini Jr and Raphinha, who would rather cut in and shoot than cross the ball. The big man failed to link with his team-mates and drifted around at the top of the team, an irrelevance to the game. <\/p>\n
It was not much different from playing with ten men and the knock-on effect was that Brazil were getting overrun in midfield. <\/p>\n
Clearly something had to be done \u2013 but what? Neymar, in the squad but still struggling with the injury Ancelotti ignored to include him, could not help. Back in Brazil many demanded the inclusion of Endrick, deemed the closest thing the current generation has to a Neymar-level talent. <\/p>\n
But Ancelotti was never likely to bet the farm on a 19-year-old. He has a tried-and-tested response to this kind of situation: put an extra man in midfield. More than any coach at the top level, Ancelotti likes a diamond midfield. Nobody else seems to fancy the formation these days, but Ancelotti\u2019s opponents hate this one weird trick.<\/p>\n
![\"Brazil](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WR2T64QMRMP5DA2D3C2O544DH4.jpg\")
Brazil forward Raphinha (R) puts the ball past Haiti goalkeeper Johnny Placide, but the goal was disallowed because Raphinha was offside. Photograph: EPA <\/p>\n
The player who came in for Thiago was not Endrick, but Matheus Cunha of Manchester United. Cunha has suffered from being a difficult player to categorise, but he has energy, good all-round skills, and is capable of venomous finishing. He played at the top of the diamond, behind the strikers Vini Jr and Raphinha. Lucas Paquet\u00e1 and Bruno Guimar\u00e3es were in the shuttling roles on either side and Casemiro returned in the starting XI as the anchor man. <\/p>\n
The high-energy atmosphere at the black, steep, jagged Philadelphia Eagles stadium, with juddering beats blaring and the sky swarming with helicopters and drones, was a suitably \u2018metal\u2019 backdrop for Brazil to do their thing.<\/p>\n
They showed their intent early when a gorgeous chip from Bruno Guimar\u00e3es found Raphinha stealing in behind and the Barcelona forward finished confidently. The Brazilian fans in the overflow press section only noticed that the goal had been called offside when the Haitian keeper Johny Placide booted the free-kick upfield. They had been too busy filming themselves celebrating to notice the on-field celebrations being cut short. <\/p>\n