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.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
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)
NEW YORK (AP) — Reviving a campaign pledge, President Donald Trump wants a one-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates, a move that could save Americans tens of billions of dollars but drew immediate opposition from an industry that has been in his corner.
Trump was not clear in his social media post Friday night whether a cap might take effect through executive action or legislation, though one Republican senator said he had spoken with the president and would work on a bill with his “full support.” Trump said he hoped it would be in place Jan. 20, one year after he took office.
Strong opposition is certain from Wall Street in addition to the credit card companies, which donated heavily to his 2024 campaign and have supported Trump's second-term agenda. Banks are making the argument that such a plan would most hurt poor people, at a time of economic concern, by curtailing or eliminating credit lines, driving them to high-cost alternatives like payday loans or pawnshops.
“We will no longer let the American Public be ripped off by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Researchers who studied Trump’s campaign pledge after it was first announced found that Americans would save roughly $100 billion in interest a year if credit card rates were capped at 10%. The same researchers found that while the credit card industry would take a major hit, it would still be profitable, although credit card rewards and other perks might be scaled back.
About 195 million people in the United States had credit cards in 2024 and were assessed $160 billion in interest charges, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says. Americans are now carrying more credit card debt than ever, to the tune of about $1.23 trillion, according to figures from the New York Federal Reserve for the third quarter last year.
Further, Americans are paying, on average, between 19.65% and 21.5% in interest on credit cards according to the Federal Reserve and other industry tracking sources. That has come down in the past year as the central bank lowered benchmark rates, but is near the highs since federal regulators started tracking credit card rates in the mid-1990s. That’s significantly higher than a decade ago, when the average credit card interest rate was roughly 12%.
The Republican administration has proved particularly friendly until now to the credit card industry.
Capital One got little resistance from the White House when it finalized its purchase and merger with Discover Financial in early 2025, a deal that created the nation’s largest credit card company. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is largely tasked with going after credit card companies for alleged wrongdoing, has been largely nonfunctional since Trump took office.
In a joint statement, the banking industry was opposed to Trump's proposal.
“If enacted, this cap would only drive consumers toward less regulated, more costly alternatives," the American Bankers Association and allied groups said.
Bank lobbyists have long argued that lowering interest rates on their credit card products would require the banks to lend less to high-risk borrowers. When Congress enacted a cap on the fee that stores pay large banks when customers use a debit card, banks responded by removing all rewards and perks from those cards. Debit card rewards only recently have trickled back into consumers' hands. For example, United Airlines now has a debit card that gives miles with purchases.
The U.S. already places interest rate caps on some financial products and for some demographics. The Military Lending Act makes it illegal to charge active-duty service members more than 36% for any financial product. The national regulator for credit unions has capped interest rates on credit union credit cards at 18%.
Credit card companies earn three streams of revenue from their products: fees charged to merchants, fees charged to customers and the interest charged on balances. The argument from some researchers and left-leaning policymakers is that the banks earn enough revenue from merchants to keep them profitable if interest rates were capped.
"A 10% credit card interest cap would save Americans $100 billion a year without causing massive account closures, as banks claim. That’s because the few large banks that dominate the credit card market are making absolutely massive profits on customers at all income levels," said Brian Shearer, director of competition and regulatory policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, who wrote the research on the industry's impact of Trump's proposal last year.
There are some historic examples that interest rate caps do cut off the less creditworthy to financial products because banks are not able to price risk correctly. Arkansas has a strictly enforced interest rate cap of 17% and evidence points to the poor and less creditworthy being cut out of consumer credit markets in the state. Shearer's research showed that an interest rate cap of 10% would likely result in banks lending less to those with credit scores below 600.
The White House did not respond to questions about how the president seeks to cap the rate or whether he has spoken with credit card companies about the idea.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who said he talked with Trump on Friday night, said the effort is meant to “lower costs for American families and to reign in greedy credit card companies who have been ripping off hardworking Americans for too long."
Legislation in both the House and the Senate would do what Trump is seeking.
Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., released a plan in February that would immediately cap interest rates at 10% for five years, hoping to use Trump’s campaign promise to build momentum for their measure.
Hours before Trump's post, Sanders said that the president, rather than working to cap interest rates, had taken steps to deregulate big banks that allowed them to charge much higher credit card fees.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., have proposed similar legislation. Ocasio-Cortez is a frequent political target of Trump, while Luna is a close ally of the president.
Seung Min Kim reported from West Palm Beach, Fla.
President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, Jan. 9, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
FILE - Visa and Mastercard credit cards are shown in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Feb. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
