Hours after the resounding loss to Morocco in a friendly match, on Saturday, the President of the Brazilian Football Confederation, Edinaldo Rodriguez, confirmed the existence of a specific name, which he considered the preferred option, to take over the leadership of the Samba team in the coming period, but on the condition that he be available for contract.
Rodriguez acknowledged that the 63-year-old Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti, who has been leading Real Madrid since 2021, is at the top of the list of candidates to succeed Tite, who left the Brazilian national team after the 2022 World Cup quarter-final exit against Croatia.
“Ancelotti is respected by all the players,” Rodriguez said in an exclusive interview with Reuters. “Not just Ronaldo Nazario, or Vinicius Junior, but everyone who has played under him.”
“I really like him for his honesty in the way he works and his continuous work. He needs no introduction. He is a brilliant coach who has achieved a lot and we hope he will achieve more.”
Ancelotti was one of the subjects of the Brazilian national team’s talk over the past days, before losing 2-1 to Morocco in a friendly, as a number of players, including Vinicius Junior, Ederson, Rodrigo and Casemiro, praised the Italian coach.
But Rodriguez said the obsession with Ancelotti had also passed on to the Brazilian fans.
“Ancelotti is not only the favorite coach of the players, but he also seems to be among the fans. Wherever I go in Brazil, in every stadium, he is the first one the fans ask me about,” he said.
He added, “They talk about him with love, in appreciation of the exemplary work he did in his career. Let us trust in God and wait for the right time and we will see if we can achieve this in our quest to appoint a new coach for the Brazil national team.”
But the president of the Argentine Federation made it clear that Ancelotti must be available at the end of the European season so that he can be contracted, knowing that the Italian coach reached Real Madrid’s Champions League quarter-finals, the tournament he holds the title.
Brazil has never used foreign coaches only a few times throughout its rich football history, including one European, Portuguese Flavio Costa Gorica during the forties of the last century, but for one match.
