Carlo Ancelotti, the technical director of the Brazilian national team, explained the reason why Bruno Guimarães took the missed penalty kick against Norway, and announced his continuation with the Samba and not leaving after the farewell from the 2026 World Cup.
The Brazilian national team lost to Norway with a score of 2-1 and bid farewell to the World Cup from the round of 16, which happens for the first time since 1990.
Ancelotti said in the press conference about the reason for Guimarães taking the kick: "The choice was based on the statistics of the past year for our players and the opposing players; the best players in taking penalty kicks are Neymar, then Igor Thiago, then Raphinha, then Bruno Guimarães, then Martinelli".
He added, "We chose Bruno Guimarães because we thought he was the best player on the pitch".
The midfielder missed a penalty in the 14th minute that would have been enough for Brazil to take an early lead in the match.
The Italian continued: "We feel deep sadness because we have not presented a distinguished performance in the World Cup so far, and I think we deserved to win today's match".
He stressed, "When such a moment occurs, we must look at the defeat as the beginning of a new adventure. We must continue to improve and find new ideas; this defeat is not the end of the road, but the beginning of a new phase".
He continued, "We knew they could play in this style; we controlled the match for 70 minutes, but Haaland decided the result in the end".
He went on, "I can confirm that we will continue working with this team, striving to improve and seeking new ideas. This is what we did this year as well. I think the work was good; this is football".
He added, "Sometimes you have to deal with the bitterness of defeat. I am used to that. We will deal with this defeat with renewed motivation to work and evaluate the players".
He continued, "Now we have to deal with the sadness, and tomorrow we will start thinking about the future of this team; we already have a strong group of young and veteran players who can continue, and new players who can join".
He concluded, "Casemiro's retirement? We have to think about it. It is clear that we need to see high-level young players leaving the midfield. We have young players in Brazilian football who can join the national team in the future".
Ancelotti renewed his contract with Brazil until 2030 before the start of the current edition of the World Cup.
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Erling Haaland scored Norway's brace, while Neymar scored Brazil's only goal.
For the first time, the Norwegian national team qualified for the quarter-finals of the World Cup, after their most notable achievement was reaching the round of 16 in 1938 and 1998.
The Norwegian national team became the team with the lowest possession to achieve a win in a knockout round at the World Cup, with only 34% against Brazil.
The Brazilian national team exited the World Cup for the first time from the round of 16 since the 1990 edition.
Brazil's last 7 defeats in the knockout stages came against European teams.
The Norwegian national team will face the winner of the match between Mexico and England in the quarter-finals next Sunday in Miami, USA.
