Twenty four years. The Brazil national team just reached for the second time its second longest drought of World Cup titles since 1970.
The last time this happened was between 1970 and 1994, where the Brazil national team was facing the first steps of its history in the post Pelé era, which led them to only find their way to the most prestigious title in soccer 24 years later during the 1994 World Cup in France.
The Brazil squad is the winningest team in World Cup history, the canary squad, as they call it in Brazil, with five titles. The Brazilians are the only team to have done this so far. The only team posing a threat to the Brazilian title as the biggest winner in World Cup history is Germany with four titles.
Brazil won the World Cup in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002, uniting behind the command of a Brazilian head coach. And although Brazil is known for its very technical and flashy players, a very good culture of team management was created during those years.
Although not spoken about very much, this was brought up recently after Brazil reached for the second time its longest World Cup drought. The topic came up at the same time as the rumors of a possible foreign coach coming to take charge of the canary squad. Carlo Ancelotti was one of the names brought up by the Brazilian media.
The current Real Madrid manager appeared to be a fan favorite considering his record. Not only that but also the fact that he already works with three key players for Brazil's present and future: Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo Goes and Éder Militão.
The Brazilian soccer confederation (CBF) already announced that they are planning to make the final decision of who is going to take charge of the squad by the end of the first half of the year. With a deadline on the table and his name all over Brazilian and international media, Ancelotti said that his main goal is to honor his contract with the Spanish club and achieve his main goals with Madrid's squad.
After killing the hopes of millions of Brazilians, the Madrid manager addressed the subject again this past week saying it would be an honor to manage the canary squad, bringing back the discussion in the Brazilian media on whether the national team should keep its tradition or bring a foreigner.
The truth is, soccer has changed. Since the last time the Brazilians were world champions, soccer has evolved from being a more talented than tactics based sport to a more tactical and organized sport. The most current example of that is the Morocco national team, which had a better World Cup run than the Brazilian squad but in comparison on paper was way less talented.
After being ranked as number one in FIFA's standings and having arguably the most stacked roster in the competition but failing to get past the quarter finals, Brazil most definitely needs to consider having a coach that matches the level of their talent while matching the coaching level around the world as well. Soccer is evolving around the world and Brazil cannot afford to keep being frozen in time due to its conservative way of thinking, feeding from their past.