World Cup

Luiz Felipe Scolari: Brazil's World Cup "wasn't so bad"

By Joe Fish, Reporter
Published: 09 July 2014 7:23 PM

Luiz Felipe Scolari insists that Brazil can still look back on their World Cup campaign positively despite their humiliating 7-1 semi-final elimination at the hands of Germany.

Brazil manager Luiz Felipe Scolari has insisted that the hosts have still enjoyed a good World Cup despite their humiliating elimination at the hands of Germany.

The Selecao were thrashed 7-1 in their semi-final in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday, but Scolari is taking positives in at least reaching the last four for the first time in 12 years.

Brazil conceded four goals to the Germans in six second-half minutes, and Scolari has claimed that it was only this 'disastrous' period that defined their World Cup fate, as they now look to recover and win the third-place playoff on Saturday.

Scolari told reporters: "We did not expect to have a result such as the one we had yesterday. In terms of the number of goals conceded. We could win and Germany could win, both teams had very good skills and abilities. But of course a score like that with a lot of goals is going to go down in history.

"But we should also recall that after 2002 it was the first time Brazil ever reached a semi-final and therefore our work wasn't so bad. We had a six-minute period when we had a disaster. This is not what we imagined or what we had in mind, but it happened.

"Now let's work and organise our team for the Saturday game, which will be another important dream which is to end the competition in third place."

The result was Brazil's joint-biggest World Cup defeat and their first in a competitive home game in 39 years, as well as the heaviest semi-final loss in the history of the tournament.