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In Kolkata, a slice of Brazil with Ancelotti and Marquinhos
Brazil's football team, led by Ancelotti, arrives in Kolkata for a match against India, emphasizing joy and teamwork ahead of their uneven contest.
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Kolkata: Buses painted in lime green with bright canary yellow polka dots, colours synonymous with flair, fun and football. A media conference conducted in equal parts in Portuguese and English running the length of half a football match and then spilling into injury-time. Carlo Ancelotti beginning his interaction with a namaste; Khalid Jamil, hands in trainer pockets, listening to him speak on the importance of utmost happiness while playing being Brazil’s defining quality.
It felt like a dream but it was happening in a hall overflowing with reporters and photographers like they do in the cavernous media room in the bowels of the Maracana. Present in the throng was a journalist from Guatemala. Late afternoon, the serpentine queue to watch the five-time world champions train at Salt Lake stadium felt like a scene lifted from a World Cup. Only this was in Kolkata. “Football is not the most important thing here but that does not mean that football does not matter,” said Ancelotti.
Two months after it was announced they were coming, Brazil are in town. To play India. On paper, it is as uneven a contest as can be. It’s been a while since Brazil have fallen off their perch – questions on why once had Ancelotti scratching his head – but even at an ebb, Brazil are sixth in the world. India 138th. Brazil are the only team to have played in all 23 editions of the World Cup finals; India have never been to the final round of the Asian qualifiers.
Bruno Guimaraes plays for Premier League champions Arsenal; Vinicius Jr for Real Madrid winners of the Champions League a record-extending 15 times; Marquinhos is at Paris St-Germain, champions of Europe for the past two seasons. Endrick is 20 now but Real Madrid had seen enough to want him when he was 16.
No Indian plays outside the country. Brazil are managed by Ancelotti who has won seven Champions League titles as coach and player and has won leagues in Europe’s top five football countries (England, Italy, Spain, France and Italy).
To see what makes Brazil tick, former India captain, coach and Dronacharya Syed Nayeemuddin spent a month there in 1982. “It was the support football and footballers received that has stayed with me,” Nayeemuddin, 82 and captain of the last India team that medalled at the Asian Games (bronze in 1970), told HT on Friday over the phone from Hyderabad.
But at kick-off on 7.30pm on Saturday, it will be 0-0. Footballer to footballer, it is a shared dream for the players of India and Brazil, said Marquinhos. To the Brazil captain, this feels like a festival of football. “(Because) Outside Brazil, one of the countries where there is such a big support for the entire squad is India.
“I don’t want to separate the festive mood from the fact that we are playing a game tomorrow. I want to use this as motivation, use the warmth we have received as a super-charger for the team,” said the 32-year-old central defender who has been part of three World Cup campaigns in an international career that began in 2013 and is 111 matches old.
Speaking slowly, his answers long, the translation not always so, Marquinhos said: “Every match is an opportunity to display Brazil’s skill, the legacy this jersey carries, the confidence, the charisma.” After a draw and a win in Australia, the last leg of this tour is a chance to “restore confidence, rebuild with a mix of new and old players.”
Marquinhos accepted that the last World Cup didn’t go to plan; Brazil exiting in the round of 16 following two roundhouse whacks from Erling Haaland. “But we are not here to focus on what happened in the past.”
The epitome of sangfroid, Ancelotti broke into a smile when HT asked him about his ability to stay calm in the hurly-burly of an elite football match. “It’s part of my character. Patience is an important part of being a manger,” he said, that famous left eyebrow arched.
His skipper may have had an eye on the future but Ancelotti, 66, switching seamless between English and Portuguese, agreed to look back.
“What happened in 2026 was that we had problems we were not able to solve. Winning a World Cup is not easy because football has changed. The talent the national team showed in 2002 was great but that alone may not be enough. There is need for more teamwork, we need to build a strong, solid team.”
Critical in doing that is to play with commitment, select players who have quality but, most importantly, play with happiness, he said. “That is the one quality I would want to never disappear. Happiness is an important quality of Brazilian culture. The pressure can get to you but it is important that players must enjoy.”
