The stadium in Houston was filled with nearly 70,000 people. Most were delirious, some were upset. The moment demanded it. Brazil scored the latest goal in regulation time in the World Cup knockout match and avoided the inevitable embarrassment of an early exit. Gabriel Martinelli, a substitute, scored the goal. player. Coach. Support staff. Photographer. Among them all, Carlo Ancelotti. Stoic. imprudent quiet
Around him, football dissolved into chaos. Carlo Ancelotti, as usual, refused to get involved.
Behind the strong facade, however, lies comfort. It worked again, as it often does. Substitutes Martinelli and Andric both played decisive roles in the 95th minute for the title as Brazil beat Japan 2-1 in the first half. Ancelotti’s reaction after the final whistle was a stark contrast to the first performance in the second half, and the difference came down to one thing: Ancelotti admitting a mistake, mid-match, publicly, and returning to default before his team won the World Cup.
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Keshu Sano put Japan ahead in the 29th minute, beating Casemiro and past Alisson from 20 yards after Danilo’s loose pass. Brazil had not won a World Cup knockout match since winning the trophy in 2002. Despite enjoying 68 percent possession in the first half, Brazil only tested goalkeeper Zion Suzuki twice, both from distance. Three hundred and thirty-three passes yielded just 0.35 expected goals. Something had to give.
Vinicius Junior was at fault. It was Brazil’s leading goal-scorer’s opener of the campaign, deployed opposite Achraf Hakimi, one of the best right-backs currently active, and he defended anonymously for a moment. Before the match against Haiti, Ancelotti asked him to play in the middle. Vinicius initially resisted. With the entry came a goal and an assist. “I need to listen to him more. He will tell me now that he knows a lot about football.”
A Japanese fan cried after the World Cup round of 32 match between Brazil and Japan in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)
Against Japan, the same suggestion failed. Centrally positioned Vinicius was impotent against a mid-block built to swallow him up, Brazil’s sluggish midfield no match for the relentless industry of Sano and Daichi Kamada. Japan’s structural discipline made the central corridor almost impenetrable. Ancelotti saw this happen for 45 minutes and changed it.
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Few managers in history have a resume as illustrious as Ancelotti’s. Seven Champions League titles. All major five leagues in Europe. Yet he insists there is no such thing as the Ancelotti style of football. He wants to be limitless. “Having only one identity for your team is a limitation.” At halftime for Houston, that immensity meant self-improvement.
The flanks were where football was often reduced to individual duels, and it was there that Japan’s discipline broke down. Vinicius hugged the left after the break. His involvement increased, with 40 touches in the second half compared to 22 in the first half, giving Brazil an attacking threat.
Brazil’s Matheus Cunha (9) celebrates after the World Cup round of 32 match between Brazil and Japan in Houston on Monday. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Ancelotti had another lever to pull. Japan’s attacking press is tied to their three center backs advancing down the pitch, the viability of which depends on the number of opposing strikers. The trio of Takehiro Tomiyasu, Shogo Taniguchi and Hiroki Ito breathed a sigh of relief after Mathews Kunha came off in the first half. Endrik was the antidote. Acting as a shadow striker, he pinned the back three.
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With Vinicius and Ryan comfortably winning their 1-v-1s, Ancelotti banked in crosses and scored in a second wave from the midfielders. It was a targeted response to one of Japan’s obvious weaknesses, air combat. They had won less than half of their aerial duels against the Netherlands and Sweden. Vulnerability was exploited again, with overflowing water. One almost brought Brazil level, with a Tomiyasu clearance equalizing. Two minutes later, Casemiro, who has scored more headed goals than anyone in the Premier League this season, headed home Gabriel Magalhas. 1-1 in the 56th minute.
Martinelli, although a winger by trade, was deployed primarily as an attacking midfielder to flood the penalty area. It was no accident that he was in the right place to receive Guimaraes’ pass for the winner. Every adjustment Ancelotti made after that mistake at half-time, Vinicius’ positioning, Casemiro’s late runs, the substitutions, turned the game in Brazil’s favor.
Ancelotti learned to embrace change the hard way. He thwarted Parma’s move to sign Italian icon Roberto Baggio in 1997. Baggio asked to play as a number 10. “I don’t play number 10,” Ancelotti told him. Baggio instead joined Bologna and scored 23 goals in 33 games. Never again, Ancelotti said.
Ahead of his fifth Champions League final, Ancelotti said: “Football has changed, but I adapt to the changes because I love the game.”
Football is grateful for what he does.