"We lost the World Cup during the hydration break against Norway. Up to that point, the team was in control. It’s true that Norway had more possession, but they had a lot of possession in their own half," he said.
"Then, maybe it was my mistake, I thought the team had lost control of the game when it actually hadn’t. I changed the team a little, and then we had the problem with Haaland’s goal. And after that...in a World Cup, when you concede a goal in the 80th minute, it’s very difficult to come back," Ancelotti continued.
A few minutes before the hydration break, the national team coach made two substitutions, taking off Gabriel Martinelli and Rayan and bringing on Neymar and Danilo Santos.
But for Ancelotti, the players involved in those substitutions are not directly related to the defeat.
According to Ancelotti, the problem was changing the team’s structure.
"I think Neymar had to come on at that moment because Neymar was doing well, trained well, and prepared well. I liked his attitude. I think he helped the team. But with his introduction, I shouldn’t have changed the team’s structure," he explained.
Neymar’s introduction...at that moment Rayan was there, I put Endrick on the right wing, thinking Neymar could provide an assist, add some quality at that moment, in the 70th minute Carlo Ancelotti, in an interview with ESPN
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.
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