Brazil’s forward #20 Estevao (R) celebrates after scoring Brazil’s first goal from the penalty spot during the International friendly football match between Brazil and Tunisia at Stade Pierre-Mauroy, in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, northern France, on November 18, 2025. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP) (Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)
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In the last seconds of injury time, Estêvão zigzagged through the Tunisian defense, but his low attempt ricocheted off the woodwork. He slumped to the floor in despair: he had been inches away from a late winner. Instead, Brazil had to settle for a frustrating 1-1 draw.
Under manager Carlo Ancelotti, the youngster has been a ray of hope. He converted a penalty to equalize and become Brazil’s top scorer with five goals. The teenager’s rise has been meteoric, crossing the Atlantic from Sao Paulo’s Palmeiras to London’s Chelsea last summer. Even Ancelotti has admitted that he has been surprised by the 18-year-old’s maturity. Ancelotti has even admitted that he was surprised by the 18-year-old’s maturity. His spot in the starting XI is as good as assured.
But not even Estêvão could paper over the cracks of a disappointing Brazil. As impressive as the team’s first half in Saturday’s 2–0 victory over Senegal at the Emirates Stadium was, against the North Africans, it was disjointed. The Tunisians played with a disciplined back five and overflew with motivation, aided by the partisan support from the stands. They took the lead, closed down space, and prevented Brazil from getting in its flow.
Ancelotti is still looking for the right balance in his 4-2-4 formation. Playing Eder Militao, a central defender, at full-back against Senegal, and bringing on Danilo in the second half against Tunisia are ways to reinforce the backline, provide more cover, and balance a top-heavy side. Casemiro shields the defence and Bruno Guimarães serves as the link with the front line, but will that be enough in the heat of the United States next year?
When Ancelotti substituted the pair against Tunisia, the quality of play dropped. Today, Brazil doesn’t have a classic ten. The midfield lacks a thinker, the type of player that in the past came to define the Seleçao. The artist has been replaced by the athlete. It’s perhaps a consequence of Brazil’s greatest-ever victory – the 4-1 win against Italy in the 1970 World Cup.
That team of 1970 crowned Brazil as the ‘futebol nation’, Pelé as arguably the greatest player of all time, and the World Cup as the ultimate sports spectacle, but its victory was the result of a thorough scientific and technocratic preparation. Under the military dictatorship, technocrats invaded all layers of Brazilian society, including that of the national team. It gave rise to the school of Carlos Alberto Parreira and Claudio Coutinho. Brazilian soccer has never abandoned those ideas.
In the past decades, that has led to World Cup heartbreaks and a renewed mongrel complex: since 2002, Brazil has not defeated a European team in a World Cup knockout game. France, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Croatia. Each elimination had its own taste and circumstances, but the result was always the same: no sixth star and more soul-searching.
Post-Tite, the crisis became most pronounced. The CBF was rudderless under Ednaldo Rodrigues, and it eventually took two years to hire Ancelotti, the first foreigner to head the Seleçao. His task is difficult: how does he restore the team’s self-esteem? He enjoys the backing of the players. Ancelotti has not brought a revolution to the Seleçao, but gradually imposed his style. Stars like Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, and Casemiro know him from his time at Real Madrid. The veteran midfield serves as Ancelotti’s general on the field.
Yet, the Italian’s first eight matches have yielded four wins, two draws, and two defeats, a record that’s no better than that of his predecessor Dorival Junior. At a news conference, Ancelotti, hardly flustered, said: “I have a lot of confidence in this team and these players, above all in this great atmosphere. The players are serious, they are professional, they are patriotic, they have a lot of affection for the shirt, and that is very important.”
Midfielder Lucas Paqueta echoed that message: “We are growing as a group, with more consistency on the pitch, each time gelling better and understanding the idea of play of the professor. We are on the right path.”
In March, Brazil will play two friendlies against European opposition, bringing into focus what will be Ancelotti’s biggest challenge at the World Cup: how to defeat teams from The Old Continent in a knockout phase. He might then take a cue from his new star Estêvão, who has taken Chelsea and Brazil by storm. Brazilian soccer always holds great promise.