Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti has blamed the tactical changes he made during the second-half hydration break against Norway for his team’s early exit from the World Cup.
FIFA introduced the mandatory three-minute breaks midway through each half for every game at this year’s World Cup and coaches used them like timeous to pass on in-game tactical instructions.
Brazil went into the second-half cooling break of their round of 16 game against Norway with the score at 0-0 but conceded two Erling Haaland late goals to fall 2-1 and suffer their earliest World Cup exit since 1990.
“I think we lost the World Cup during the hydration break against Norway,” Ancelotti told ESPN. “Why? Because, up until then, the team had been in control…
“That’s where my mistake may have been — thinking the team had lost control of the match when they hadn’t. I made a few changes to the team, and then we had the problem with Erling Haaland’s goal. And then, in a World Cup, when you concede a goal in the 30th minute [of the second half], it’s very difficult to come back from that.”
FIFA global football development chief Arsène Wenger said before the end of the tournament that hydration breaks did not affect the flow of play at the World Cup and had no impact on results of matches.
Five-time winners Brazil had missed two great chances to go ahead against Norway when Bruno Guimarães saw his early penalty saved and substitute Endrick wasted a one-on-one chance on the hour mark.
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Ancelotti, nevertheless, praised Norway, who reached their first ever quarterfinal but missed out on reaching the last four after a 2-1 defeat to England in extra time.
“It’s also true that Norway had a lot of possession in their half, they played the same way against England,” Ancelotti said. “They controlled the game, and they could’ve won.”
