Rodrygo's gone, ACL and meniscus in the right knee. Militao gone too, thigh surgery, five months out. Estevao is a doubt with a grade four hamstring. Ancelotti has said publicly that only fully fit players make the squad, which effectively ends Neymar's World Cup as well.
That's a first-choice right centre back and the most clinical wide forward in the squad, before you get to the question of whether Neymar should have been there at all. The group draw is fine. Morocco, Haiti, Scotland. Brazil should win it. The bigger question is what this team looks like in a knockout against France or Spain when the depth has already been gutted in April. Without Rodrygo, the front line runs through Vini and Raphinha with not much behind them.
The midfield is Bruno Guimaraes and Casemiro, which is functional but not the dominant midfield Brazil sides used to roll out. Marquinhos and whoever partners him at centre back is now playing without his Real Madrid teammate, in a back four that wasn't a strength before the injury. What I think is interesting is the Ancelotti angle. He's never managed at a major international tournament. Brazilian press already split on whether the appointment makes sense. He's now going into the World Cup with two senior players ruled out, has drawn a hard line on Neymar, and is essentially betting his reputation that a tactically organised Brazil with worse personnel can outperform the chaotic versions that have crashed out at the quarters in three of the last four tournaments. I don't think they make the semis.
The injury toll is too steep and the centre-back rotation worries me more than the attack does. Quarter-final exit again, probably to one of the European top three.
If anyone's been watching Brazil under Ancelotti more closely, what's the actual play style looked like?