Brazil vs Morocco: Four selection puzzles facing Ancelotti before his side's World Cup opener

Brazil begin their 2026 World Cup campaign on Saturday, June 13, against Morocco, with far more questions than answers. Manager Carlo Ancelotti, hampered by the limited time in the job (just a year) and by injuries to several first-choice players, has not been able to repeat a single starting lineup since his arrival.

The Italian has tested numerous combinations and rotated his players, but the margin for error is now narrow. The opening match of the tournament throws up four important questions that need answering when Brazil meet the Moroccans, and Sports Mole lists them in this article.

Who will start on the right wing?

The structure chosen by Ancelotti to start the last warm-up match, against Egypt, had Wesley taking up the right wing in attack to allow Lucas Paqueta the freedom to drift inside and act as an extra central midfielder.

That set-up ensured more passing lanes through the middle, generating some neat exchanges, even if the Flamengo midfielder did not produce his best individually. With the young full-back picking up an injury in the 16th minute, eventually leading to his withdrawal from the squad.

Danilo came on in his place, but the dynamic of occupying the wing was lost. The right side became 'empty', without Paqueta, who was operating inside, and with the experienced full-back, who at 34 is far from being able to repeat the lung capacity of his earlier years.

The build-up suggests Ancelotti will keep both players in the right-hand channel, which naturally raises the question of how that dynamic will work. Will Danilo push up higher? Will Paqueta show up more on the wing? Or, less likely, will Raphinha switch over to that side and leave the centre of the pitch to the Flamengo midfielder?

What is the pecking order at full-back?

The left-back position appears, even with the Flamengo player having nailed down the starting role, still open, all the more so because his level and characteristics are not very different from those of Douglas Santos, who started the match against the Egyptians.

On the right, it is even surprising that Danilo wins the spot. Roger Ibanez had seemed to be called up precisely to be the defensive option to Wesley in that area, as Eder Militao, who is injured, was, all the more so given that he stood out in that role on the March international break against Croatia.

The veteran Flamengo full-back is not even a starter at his club and has played few minutes this year. His call-up, locked in by Ancelotti before all the other names on the list, appeared to be more to do with dressing-room leadership than technical aspects.

But the Italian has shown that he sees things differently. Ibanez started at centre-back against Egypt, where he produced a strong display, and at this stage may be the back-up for both positions.

Who will be the number nine?

Another change from the warm-up will be the central striker. It was Igor Thiago in the first half and Endrick in the second. On the World Cup opener, neither of them is expected to start.

The trend is for Matheus Cunha to come back into the team. The Manchester United man has been a starter for almost the whole of the Ancelotti era. He has played as a false nine and lately has been more of an extra midfielder in a 4-3-3, as was the case in the opening period against Panama, in the friendly on May 31, when Raphinha operated as that inside forward.

Against Morocco, that positional set-up looks the most likely, with positional switches involving Raphinha while Vinicius Junior occupies the left wing.

However, it is possible to imagine that he could lose his place to Thiago or Endrick during the competition, either because of the qualities the former brings or because of the star quality of the former Palmeiras player, with his many decisive goals, something Brazil have been missing.

Has the pressing on the opposition build-up been fixed?

Brazil's greatest strength is, at the same time, a vulnerability. The pressing in the attacking third has been bearing fruit. Bruno Guimaraes won the ball and opened the scoring in the last warm-up that way. The counter-press has been even more productive: it led to the winning goal against Egypt and to two more against Panama.

The issue is that, although it is one of the team's standout traits, this is what has been making Brazil more fragile, particularly when they push up against the opposition's build-up.

On more than one occasion, the Egyptians cut through the high press and left Marquinhos or Ibanez in one-on-one situations with quick attacks. The PSG defender picked up a yellow card on one such move, while the other centre-back lost a dangerous one-on-one but eventually got his tackle in.

In the only training session that was opened almost entirely to the press, last week, Ancelotti showed that the pressing in the attacking third was being worked on hard. He had six days of preparation before the opener against Morocco to try to minimise the spaces in the press.

The answers to that question and to the others will be seen on Saturday, but there is still time for adjustments before the matches against Haiti (on June 19) and Scotland (on June 24), ahead of the knockout phase.