There are managers you trust when things go wrong, and then there is Carlo Ancelotti. The man has this almost supernatural ability to look completely unbothered while the world falls apart around him, and then somehow come out the other side with a win, a trophy, or at the very least his dignity intact.
At half-time in Houston, Brazil were staring down the barrel. Another early World Cup exit was on the cards, the kind of result that would have had the whole nation in meltdown and Ancelotti on the next flight back to wherever Carlo Ancelotti goes when he needs a quiet sit down. The players trudged off looking like they knew it too. It was grim viewing.
But here is the thing about Ancelotti. He does not panic. He never looks like he is panicking, anyway, and at this point it is hard to tell if that is genius or just a very good poker face built up over forty years in football. Either way, it works. Whatever was said in that dressing room at half-time, it worked.
Brazil came out in the second half a completely different side. The kind of turnaround that makes you feel slightly embarrassed for having given up on them. And that is the Ancelotti effect in a nutshell. You doubt him, you write the obituary, and then he makes you look a bit silly.
For Brazil fans this will feel like a massive exhale. The pressure on this squad has been intense, the expectations completely over the top as always with that national team, and another early exit would have been genuinely painful for a football-mad country that expects to win World Cups, not scrape through group stages.
For neutrals, this is just another chapter in the Ancelotti story. The man collects near-disasters and turns them into results like some managers collect excuses. United fans like this writer know all too well what it feels like to have a manager who folds under pressure. Carlo is simply built different.
Let me know your thoughts.