SAO PAULO (AP) — Carlo Ancelotti faces myriad problems as Brazil coach and only about a dozen games to deal with them before the World Cup if he wants to have a decent shot at the 2026 title.
The initial challenges will be solving the defensive woes, bolstering the midfield and fielding a lineup that won’t be over-reliant on Neymar, who has been struggling with injuries.
Brazil's soccer confederation on Monday said the 65-year-old Italian will leave Real Madrid one year before the end of his contract and take over Brazil's national team on May 26, the day after the final round of the Spanish league. Details of the deal were not released.
“Ancelotti's impact goes beyond results; he is a strategist who turns teams into legends. Brazil, with its unique tradition, and Ancelotti, with his revolutionary vision, will make a partnership that will go down in history," CBF President Ednaldo Rodrigues said. “He is the greatest coach in history and, now, he will be in charge of the biggest national team on the planet.”
Rodrigues' optimism doesn't entirely ring true for those who've watched Brazil over the last two years.
Ancelotti's first challenge will be reigniting belief in a squad sitting fourth in South American World Cup qualifying after a heavy 4-1 loss at archrival Argentina. After a series of poor performances Dorival Júnior was fired as coach, just like his predecessors Ramon Menezes and Fernando Diniz.
Ancelotti's tenure reportedly has already started in conversations with two key Brazil players of the previous World Cup campaigns: Neymar, still recovering at Santos following his ACL tear, and Manchester United midfielder Casemiro.
There's no standout successor to either player in the national setup. If Ancelotti wants to bring the pair of 33-year-old veterans back into the squad, he'll need gameplans to play with and without them.
Brazil's creative midfield is also an issue, which has frustrated the team's several top strikers.
Lucas Paquetá, who seemed set to take that position in the starting line up, is facing charges by English soccer authorities amid allegations he had deliberately received cards during Premier League matches to influence betting markets. Paquetá denies any wrongdoing.
Other players tested in that role, including Madrid's Rodrygo, Fullham's Andreas Pereira, Flamengo's Gerson, haven't so far delivered performances to reassure fans. That lack of a high performing creative midfield has limited the scoring ability of strikers Vinicius Júnior, Raphinha, Matheus Cunha, and Endrick.
Brazil's defensive midfield is also expected to be an issue for Ancelotti — hence the call to veteran Casemiro, with whom he won several titles at Madrid. Newcastle's Bruno Guimarães and Joelinton were the latest attempt for a change.
There's other players who could take that role but no clear choices for Brazil. Ancelotti will have to go looking.
Brazil’s defensive woes are shocking compared with the six years under coach Tite, between 2016 and 2022. The Selecao has conceded 31 goals in 25 matches since Qatar. That is one more than in 81 matches under Tite. Even if the team's stars don't deliver, Ancelotti's performance will be judged by how he fixes Brazil's defense, as he has done in the clubs where he's worked.
Unlike Brazil's attacking force, which has several top players and some good options for the bench, the team's defense has lacked talent at right- and left-back for years. None of the players tested since 2022 have echoed Brazil's tradition in those positions of attacking players who also know how to block opponents.
A possible solution, which was used by Luiz Felipe Scolari in the 2002 World Cup for different reasons, would be for Ancelotti to pick three defenders and choose two wingers to play close to the team's midfield. But Brazil would also struggle to find three top defenders in good shape.
The current defensive duo of Marquinhos and Gabriel Magalhães has not inspired confidence, as numbers suggest, and Eder Militão, another Ancelotti favorite, is still returning from injury.
Even in goal there will be big decisions for Ancelotti to make.
Alisson held the position in the last two World Cups, when Brazil was eliminated in quarterfinals. As the new cycle began and the Liverpool goalkeeper was injured, Ederson took over. But then Ederson was injured and Alisson reclaimed his starting spot. As they competed for the starting place, both were injured and that resulted in Bento taking over against Argentina.
And these are only the on-field problems that Ancelotti will have to deal with. Legal woes involving the CBF President, Ednaldo Rodrigues, could also be a distraction. Fans have little patience with poor performances and there's still a slight chance the team won't make it to the World Cup for the first time ever — the top six teams in South America will have direct berths.
TV Band commentator Galvao Bueno, often regarded as a spokesman for Brazil fans, said Ancelotti will need local help to navigate the challenges.
“Ancelotti will bring his assistants, but he has friends in Brazil; Cafu, Kaká and, above all, Paulo Roberto Falcão,” Bueno said, referring to three former internationals who reportedly might join the coaching staff. “Ancelotti will take over the national team at moment in which the CBF is facing tremendous headwinds!”
That's not exactly new for Brazil.
If history means anything, Brazil has won only one of its five World Cup titles as the favorite going into the tournament — in 1962, as defending champion.
In 2001, one year before the team's last World Cup title, Scolari's Brazil lineup get knocked out in a Copa America by Honduras. Stars Ronaldo and Rivaldo were struggling with injuries. Pundits were highly critical of the 3-5-2 formation for the simple reason that Brazil hadn't won a trophy with such strategy.
Ancelotti might have to look at history for some inspiration, and maybe his phone book for some local friends who could help, before his actual work with Brazil begins.
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Real Madrid's head coach Carlo Ancelotti reacts during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Celta Vigo at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. reimposed a naval blockade on Iran and intensified its airstrike campaign Wednesday in retaliation for Tehran’s attacks on ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. The American strikes hit an Iranian army barracks, killed at least seven troops and wounded more than 260 people across the country, Iranian officials said.
Days of back-and-forth strikes by the U.S. and Iran across the Middle East — and renewed threats to the waterway crucial to global energy supplies — have shredded the interim deal to end the conflict and the region could tip back into all-out war.
The U.S. first imposed a blockade in April and then lifted it last month after signing the interim deal that paused the fighting and set a 60-day period for negotiations over issues like Iran’s nuclear program. Those talks have stalled as fighting over the Strait of Hormuz has intensified.
When the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran effectively closed the waterway to shipping traffic — a move that sent the price of oil, fertilizer and many other goods soaring far beyond the region and gave Iran major leverage in negotiations. Those rising prices pose a particular challenge to U.S. President Donald Trump and his Republican Party, which hopes to retain control of Congress in elections in November — but Washington has struggled to successfully reopen the waterway.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened Wednesday to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the blockade.
“The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,” it said.
The U.S. carried out a wave of strikes, hitting dozens of targets over seven hours overnight, the military’s Central Command said Wednesday. Later, it resumed striking Iran during daylight — an unusual move that further signaled the increasing tempo in attacks.
One strike targeted a barracks for Iran’s 388th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, which operates tanks and armored vehicles, in Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iranian state television reported. The report said the Americans fired at least 13 missiles in the attack and that the seven dead included conscripts and career soldiers. A number of troops were wounded.
Including those at the barracks, more than 30 people have been killed in recent days, Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said, without elaborating.
Hossein Kermanpour, a spokesperson for the Health Ministry, meanwhile, said over 260 people were wounded in overnight strikes alone — a figure far larger than for any other round of recent violence between Iran and the U.S. He did not say how many people were killed overnight.
The army said it would make “a decisive response to this aggressive action by the American enemy,” according to state TV.
Missile alert warnings sounded in Bahrain and Kuwait early Wednesday as they faced incoming Iranian fire — a daily occurrence in recent days. Jordan said it shot down three incoming Iranian missiles. Iran claimed attacks on the three nations, all of which host U.S. forces.
U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads Central Command, said in a statement that Iran had launched dozens of missiles and drones at neighboring Gulf Arab countries.
Trump told the Fox News Channel on Tuesday night that more U.S. strikes against Iran would come over the next two days and that bridges and power plants could be targeted by next week unless negotiations resume. Already, the U.S. has struck at least one bridge.
“You better make a deal, or you’re not going to have anything left,” Trump warned.
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, criticized America’s attacks.
“The U.S. is the aggressor, not the victim,” he wrote to the world body’s leader, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
The latest round of fighting is focused on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas trade passes during peacetime. How to reopen the strait has bedeviled the U.S. since Iran choked it off in the early days of the war.
During the interim deal, some ships began moving through the passage using a route near Oman overseen by the U.S. military that is outside Tehran’s control.
In recent days, Iran attacked ships using that route — and back-and-forth attacks ensued. The U.S. has threatened to reopen the strait by force — but experts say that would require a much bigger armada if not tens of thousands of ground troops. Imposing the blockade is another way to put pressure on Iran.
But in the meantime, oil prices are rising. The price for Brent crude oil, the international standard, traded above $85 a barrel on Wednesday — more than 15% higher than the price before the war, but still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the conflict.
Analysts with the International Monetary Fund warned Wednesday that while a surplus of oil had kept prices low, “much of that room has now been used up.”
“As tensions flare again in the Strait of Hormuz, that room is now smaller and shrinking further as spare capacity has been deployed, demand has compressed, and inventories have been drawn down,” Azim Sadikov and Jean-Marc Natal wrote in a blog post. “Unless inventories are replenished, the world will start from a weaker position when the next shock comes.”
Regional mediators meanwhile are still trying to get the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table.
Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
An army cadet walks past a billboard bearing anti-Trump messages, including the phrase "We Kill Trump," at Islamic Revolution Square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A woman stands at the water's edge along the Strait of Hormuz as a plume of smoke rises in the background following an explosion, off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, July 13, 2026. (Razieh Poudat/ISNA via AP)
Three boys play in the shallow waters of the Strait of Hormuz, as a plume of smoke rises from an explosion in the background, off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, July 13, 2026. (Razieh Poudat/ISNA via AP)
Mourners chant slogan as one of them holds a poster of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in a ceremony commemorating the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque in Tehran, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
