June 30, 2026
Fernando Kallas, Reuters
Carlo Ancelotti has spent weeks warning that grit and resilience would decide a long, complicated World Cup. On this evidence, Brazil have been listening — even if, for much of the match against Japan, they seemed determined to test the theory to destruction.
One could argue this was not simply a 2-1 Brazil victory. It seemed a familiar Ancelotti production: control, wobble, self-inflicted trouble and then, when logic was packing its bags for extra time, a late act of defiance that belonged as much to the heart as to the tactics board.
Ancelotti knows plenty about long, complicated tournaments from his years at Real Madrid. His best Real sides were not always flawless, but they carried something more dangerous than perfection: the certainty that the story was never over.
