Knives Out: "If the Coach Were Brazilian They Would Send Him to Hell"

6.7.2026 / 8:07

Luxemburgo Launches Scathing Criticism of Ancelotti After Elimination: "Norway Is Insanely Weak and We Defended Against Them for 90 Minutes. Where Was Neymar?"

Norway national team fans celebrate the victory over Brazil in the World Cup/YouTube

Alongside the tears and sporting grief in Brazil after the World Cup exit to Norway, the knives are already drawn with Carlo Ancelotti as the target. The Selecao fell 2-1 to Erling Haaland and teammates last night (Sunday into Monday) and bowed out of the 2026 World Cup in the round of 16, a crushing disappointment.

"If it were a Brazilian coach, they would already have fired him to hell," said former national team boss Vanderlei Luxemburgo. "Ancelotti made a major error. Deploying Neymar only for this match? We have no better players than Neymar. Every side in the world would build its team around him."

The 74-year-old coach, who led the Selecao from 1998 to 2000 before being dismissed after the Sydney Olympics, insisted Neymar should have been central: "A coach must create a system that lets his star lead the team, exactly as Norway did for Haaland by waiting for one or two chances to strike. Here in Brazil they simply abandoned him."

Luxemburgo concluded: "We will never play like European sides. We need to dribble and express ourselves differently. Facing a Norway side that is insanely weak yet spending 90 minutes defending... who has ever seen such a thing? Brazil was afraid of Norway."

Carlo Ancelotti with Neymar, Brazil national team/GettyImages, Catherine Ivill - AMA

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Brazil national team
Vanderlei Luxemburgo
Carlo Ancelotti