Circulating In The Brazilian National Team, Ancelotti Changes Vinicius Jr Real Madrid Version

JAKARTA - Vinicius Junior will turn into Brazil's mainstay goal engine against Ecuador in the 2026 World Cup qualifying match in the South American zone. Brazilian coach Carlo Ancelotti promised Vinicius would show a performance like the one at Real Madrid in a duel at Rodrigo Paz Delgado Stadium, Friday, 6 June 2025 WIB.

Debut is not easy for Ancelotti. When starting work coaching the Brazilian national team, Ancelotti already had to face Ecuador, who is currently second in the standings. Ecuador, which is under Argentina, has 23.

Meanwhile, Brazil, which had stalled and pocketed 21 points, was ranked fourth. Only two points adrift so that Raphinha et al will win second place if they beat Ecuador.

The problem is that Brazil is experiencing a crisis of confidence. Teams with talented players in every position, but they never showed their best performance.

As a result, Brazil had to find foreign coaches to make improvements. And, Ancelotti, who is an Italian, became the first foreign coach to get the target of bringing Brazil through to the 2026 World Cup finals which were held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Despite facing a tough opponent and playing at home to Ecuador, Ancelotti hopes to make his debut with a satisfactory result. In that match, the former Madrid coach also had hopes for Vinicius Jr to dismantle the home defense.

Ancelotti believes Vinicius Jr's brilliant performance in Madrid will affect the national team. How not, Vinicius Jr. achieved success by leading Madrid to win various trophies, including two Spanish La Liga and two Champions League champions.

According to Ancelotti Vinicius Jr's ability to damage the opponent's defense will be the key in that match. His success in scoring more than 100 goals in various competitions with Los Merengues shows that Vinicius Jr is indeed a mainstay machine.

However, the performance of the former 24-year-old Flamengo striker is actually not optimal in the national team. This is Ancelotti's homework if he wants to pass Brazil to the final round.

"I don't know why he can't show his maximum performance. It seems that he needs time to be able to do it like at Real Madrid," said Ancelotti alluding to Vinicius Jr's performance.

"Obviously, he is a pillar player. So we have to try he can show his best performance here [Brazil team]," he said again.

Ancelotti himself will not force him to use a play scheme like when dealing with Madrid. He only needs a team that has cohesiveness and balance.

"I don't want the team to know only one game scheme. I want us to be able to survive very well, whether it uses a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 scheme. We must be able to survive together and how to maximize creativity when mastering the ball," said Ancelotti, who highlighted the egoism of star players in the Brazilian national team.

According to him, individual quality is not important for the former Chelsea and Everton managers. According to him, this must be supported by strong commitment and attitude and motivation.

"Only relying on individual quality is clearly not enough anymore. You have to combine it with attitude, motivation and commitment," he said.

Ancelotti himself did not give an image of starting line-up in the match against Ecuador. But he gave special praise to young player Estevoo who left Palmeiras to join Chelsea.

The presence of this 18-year-old player shows that Brazil does not stop producing talented stars. Previously, Brazil had given birth to Endrick, Ancelotti's side in Madrid.

"He has special talent. Not only that, he also has character and is very careful. Characteristics like him are needed by the national team in the future," he said.

Evacuation Lineup Forecast: Galinez; Ordonez, Pacho, Hincapie, Estupinan; Preciado, Vite, Caicedo, Franco, Plata; Valencia

Brazil: Alisson; Vanderson, Danilo, Marquinhos, Augusto; Guimaraes, Gerson; Raphinha, Cunha, Vinicius Junior; Richarlison