India, June 30 -- Brazil's modern World Cup story is measured against ghosts. The 1970 side turned football into theatre, 1982 became the patron saint of beautiful failure, 1994 won by discipline and 2002 by devastating genius. Since then, though, the yellow shirt has carried more memory than menace. Brazil still produce stars, but the aura has thinned.

That is the Brazil Carlo Ancelotti inherited: not a broken football nation, but a damaged football identity. The five-time champions came into this cycle after another quarter-final exit in 2022, managerial instability, a humiliating 4-1 qualifying defeat to Argentina, and a campaign that pushed them into uncomfortable territory in South America. Ancelotti was not hired to decorate Samba ...