Brazil boss Luiz Felipe Scolari
says he and his players will forever be haunted by their humiliating 7-1
loss to Germany in the World Cup semi-finals on Tuesday.
Following their damaging defeat in Belo Horizonte, Scolari and his players are now preparing for a third-place playoff against Netherlands in Brasilia on Saturday – instead of the World Cup final in Rio the next day.
And while Scolari maintains his side have performed well to reach the last four of the 2014 finals, he admits he is unlikely ever to forget the drubbing at the hands of Joachim Low’s side.
“I don’t think our work here has been negative,” Scolari told reporters at his side’s pre-match press conference on Friday. “We have had one defeat, which was catastrophic, but I hope people won’t focus solely on that one loss.
“This will probably be hard on us for the rest of our lives. What the fans felt and what we felt won’t change from night to day. In the 20-odd years I still have ahead of me, I’ll always be remembered for this.”
The 65-year-old added that the team are still suffering from the 7-1 loss, but believes his players are well on the way to recovering psychologically.
“Tuesday was hard, Wednesday was hard, Thursday was hard. It’s still hard,” he said. “But we have tried to recover psychologically in order to gain a new perspective to face Netherlands as though it was our new goal. We’re working on it and I think we have reversed 75 per cent of the situation.”
And he added: “I’m not nervous any more because our original objective can no longer be reached. What we want now is to beat Netherlands and give the Brazilian people a little bit of joy by finishing third.”
Scolari also revealed he will make changes on Saturday, with Thiago Silva set to return in defence after suspension.
“I’ll make two or three changes out of necessity and also because of the game,” he said. “And one I’ll make because I understand the match tomorrow asks for this specific player (Silva).”
Following their damaging defeat in Belo Horizonte, Scolari and his players are now preparing for a third-place playoff against Netherlands in Brasilia on Saturday – instead of the World Cup final in Rio the next day.
And while Scolari maintains his side have performed well to reach the last four of the 2014 finals, he admits he is unlikely ever to forget the drubbing at the hands of Joachim Low’s side.
“I don’t think our work here has been negative,” Scolari told reporters at his side’s pre-match press conference on Friday. “We have had one defeat, which was catastrophic, but I hope people won’t focus solely on that one loss.
“This will probably be hard on us for the rest of our lives. What the fans felt and what we felt won’t change from night to day. In the 20-odd years I still have ahead of me, I’ll always be remembered for this.”
The 65-year-old added that the team are still suffering from the 7-1 loss, but believes his players are well on the way to recovering psychologically.
“Tuesday was hard, Wednesday was hard, Thursday was hard. It’s still hard,” he said. “But we have tried to recover psychologically in order to gain a new perspective to face Netherlands as though it was our new goal. We’re working on it and I think we have reversed 75 per cent of the situation.”
And he added: “I’m not nervous any more because our original objective can no longer be reached. What we want now is to beat Netherlands and give the Brazilian people a little bit of joy by finishing third.”
Scolari also revealed he will make changes on Saturday, with Thiago Silva set to return in defence after suspension.
“I’ll make two or three changes out of necessity and also because of the game,” he said. “And one I’ll make because I understand the match tomorrow asks for this specific player (Silva).”
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