Brazil ends year in poor shape under interim coach as it waits for word from Carlo Ancelotti

Brazil faces pressure to improve results, find new coach. Interim coach Diniz has had to endure losses, lack of answer from Ancelotti. Selecao has won only 3 of 9 matches in 2023, 6th in 10-team group. Diniz's attacking style admired, but takes time to succeed. Players struggle to understand tactics, injuries, dwindling performances contribute to poor form. Long gap before next matches allows team to recover, learn lessons. Fans jeer, pressure mounts for Brazil to improve.

Until this year, Brazil's national football team had never lost three games in a row. The Selecao had never lost a World Cup qualifying match at home. It had never had anything but wins against a visiting Venezuela team, for many years the weakest in South America.

Interim coach Fernando Diniz, however, has had to endure all those setbacks in only a few months on the job — all while Brazil hopes that Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti will soon take over.

Diniz's troubles, and the lack of a confirmed answer from Ancelotti, have increased the pressure on the Brazilian team, even though qualifying for the expanded 2026 World Cup is still expected despite a 1-0 loss to Argentina on Tuesday.

The top six teams in the South American qualifying group will gain direct entry to the 48-team tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada. The seventh-place team can earn a berth in an intercontinental playoff.

Brazil, the only team never to miss a World Cup, has won only three of nine matches in 2023 — the national team's poorest record in years. The five-time World Cup champions are in sixth place in the 10-team South American qualifying group with seven points after six matches — eight behind leader Argentina. Performances have been equally disappointing.

Many soccer analysts in Brazil say the team has struggled this year because Diniz has had little time to implement his tactics. Injuries and dwindling performances have also contributed to the team's poor form.

The 49-year-old Diniz, who took over in July, has split his time with the national team and Brazilian club Fluminense. That alone has drawn the ire of some of his club's fans and those of the national team. His attacking style of play is admired by many, even more so after his team's Copa Libertadores title this year.