Cafu backs Ancelotti rebuild but says Brazil must remember how to play

NEW YORK, July 6 : Brazil's World Cup wound is open again and, for Cafu, the cure will not be found only in tactics, systems or another forensic search for scapegoats. It may begin with something far simpler: letting children kick a ball without feeling the weight of a nation on their small shoulders.

A day after Brazil's harrowing 2-1 loss to Norway in the last 16 at the New York/New Jersey stadium, where Erling Haaland scored twice to send the record five-times champions home, the captain of Brazil's 2002 World Cup-winning side said the country must trust coach Carlo Ancelotti with a proper four-year rebuild.

Brazil's wait for a sixth title will now stretch to at least 28 years, longer than any barren run in their history. Cafu, who was part of the 1994 squad that ended a 24-year drought, knows what that number does to a Brazilian shirt.

"Even greater," he told Reuters on Monday when asked what pressure awaited the next generation. "If there was pressure in '94 after 24 years, just imagine now in 2030, after 28 years."

Responsible for unveiling an 8.47-metre-long LEGO sculpture of the World Cup, built from more than 1.36 million LEGO bricks, at Rockefeller Plaza in the heart of New York City on Monday, Cafu resisted resorting to hyperbole.

Brazil, he said, remain Brazil, judged by "the potential and the calibre of Brazilian football", which is precisely why patience will be so difficult and so necessary.

"It's not the end of the world," he said. "It's the start of a new cycle and a new generation, so we have to trust Carlo (Ancelotti) is the man to help Brazil win that title again."

ANCELOTTI INHERITED AN EMERGENCY

For Ancelotti, Cafu's former manager at AC Milan, that cycle begins with time, something Brazil's chaotic pursuit