Was tough to boost boys after semis loss: Brazil coach
KOLKATA: They say in Brazil that when you lose a semi-final, you want to go home, said coach Carlos Amadeu after sealing the third place beating Mali 2-0 here on Saturday.
“This was our worst game in two-and-a-half years that I have been in charge of the team. But then, it was very difficult to motivate the boys after they lost the semi-final.
“I told them the crowd here could have come just for the final (there were 56,422 people for the third-place game) but they came early because they love Brazil and we should try and show them how Brazil play football. It didn’t happen tonight but we could do that for most of our time in India.
“Today, we were lucky after being below par. We knew we could do more. You can say Mali played and Brazil won,” said Amadeu.
These boys were chosen with an eye on the future and not just for this tournament. “We chose those who we thought had the skill and could go far. We chose five players born in 2001 because of that. That meant we didn’t have the best physically developed players (those born on or after 1.1.2000 were eligible) but we did it with an eye on the future.
“I think most of them will go to Europe and play for the national team but there have been instances when we haven’t won this and players from the team have gone on to represent the senior national team. Conversely, there have also been times when we won this tournament but the players have been forgotten,” said Amadeu.