Brazil is gone from the World Cup. Out in the Round of 16. To Norway. And the autopsy is already brutal.
For 67 minutes against Erling Haaland and company, it was 0-0. Brazil hadn’t created much, but they hadn’t conceded either. Then Carlo Ancelotti sent on Neymar. The superstar had played zero minutes in the tournament before that moment. He was supposedly fit, supposedly ready, supposedly the kind of difference-maker who could unlock a stubborn defense.
Instead, according to David Mosse, speaking on Alexi Lalas’ podcast, the move made everything worse.
“The one thing Neymar can do is take his penalties well, so he went there and took it and he got his goal,” Mosse said. “In terms of play, he added absolutely nothing when he was on the field. It ended up burning Brazil as Endrick and Vinicius Jr. had to defend more. That was a shocking decision from Ancelotti to take Neymar on. I cannot even wrap my head around it.”
Mosse wasn’t done. He pointed out that Neymar’s insertion forced two of Brazil’s most dangerous attackers into defensive roles. Endrick and Vinicius Jr. spent more time tracking back than they did threatening the Norwegian goal. For a team that needed creativity, that was a problem.
Where Was the Joga Bonito?
Brazil came into this tournament looking nothing like the Brazil the world expects. Ancelotti built a team around defensive rigidity, experience, and physicality. Casemiro and Bruno Guimaraes started in midfield. The fullbacks played conservatively. The attackers were often isolated up top, expected to produce moments of individual magic rather than working through a coherent system.
Norway figured it out. They sat deep, stayed patient, and waited for their chances. Haaland got two of them. He converted both. That was it.
Brazil dominated possession. They pushed numbers forward. But clear chances? Hardly any. The same team that once made football look like art looked stiff, predictable, and frankly boring.
The Squad That Wasn’t
Ancelotti left Joao Pedro and Gabriel Jesus at home. He brought an aging squad built on experience. That decision, combined with a run of injuries that gutted key positions, left Brazil short on options. Mosse singled out Raphinha as the one player who might have changed things, especially when Bruno Guimaraes missed that penalty.
Instead, Brazil relied on Neymar to save them. In theory, it made sense. Neymar can win a game by himself. But in practice, he hadn’t played a single minute of competitive football in the tournament. Throwing him into a knockout game and expecting him to be the hero was a gamble, and it didn’t pay off.
Ancelotti will take the heat. That’s how it works when you’re the coach of Brazil and you lose to Norway in the Round of 16. The team looked disjointed. The strategy looked confused. And the decision to chase the game with a player who wasn’t ready, instead of trusting the guys who had been on the pitch all tournament, is going to follow him for a long time.
Norway, for what it’s worth, had a plan and executed it perfectly. They didn’t need to be the better team. They just needed to be the smarter one.
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