Philadelphia was painted yellow as Brazil fans flooded into the city in their tens of thousands.
There were many ticketless supporters who travelled large distances to watch the game on television in bars, just happy to be in the same city as their heroes played on the World Cup stage.
Ancelotti struck a defiant tone at his post-match news conference, where the first question was: This was an improvement on Morocco, but what didn’t you like about the match?
“We were much better first half. In the second half, they had little bit more control, but we had opportunities to score more goals. All in all it was a good match,” said the Italian, who was appointed in May 2025 to end Brazil’s long wait for a sixth world title.
It was followed by a question about Manchester United’s Cunha: Having scored twice against Haiti, would he remain in the centre-forward role for the next match against Scotland in Miami next Wednesday?
“We’ll see,” added the Italian.
“I think that Matheus’ position was a good position for creating problems for the defence. And he filtered his passes very well, and his position was a good position to be effective at the front.
“It can be an option. We discussed this yesterday. I don’t want a clear identity. Maybe we will change this on the next match.”
After answering a question about tactics and then Vinicius Jr – who now has six goal involvements in six World Cup appearances (three goals, three assists) – Ancelotti was asked about the performance once more.
“It was what I expected for this match,” he said.
“There were less mistakes [than against Morocco], more effectiveness going forward, this was a good match.”
Speaking about the next match against Scotland, Ancelotti added: “We don’t think about knocking out [Scotland]. We think about playing well and improving, and we analyse the match.
“If we can reach the first position of the group, that would be important for the future. So we want to prepare well for that match.
“Scotland can create a problem. They created problems to Morocco. And so we have to focus on the match and be calm and keep on working to improve.”
