The Hindu : Sport / Football : Parreira takes the blame

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 03, 2006

Sport

Sport - Football

Parreira takes the blame

FRANKFURT : Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said he had failed after his team was knocked out by France.

"I would like to thank the players. I didn't do my job because my job here was to get to the final," he said after France's 1-0 win.

"In Brazil when the national team loses the coach is to blame so I believe we will follow this script once again. We never prepared for this moment. This is a very difficult moment for all of us," he added.

Parreira said Brazil had paid a heavy price for failing to mark Thierry Henry at a free-kick. Henry steered in Zinedine Zidane's free-kick in the 57th minute. "We were beaten by a very strong team who played an impeccable match," he said.

"There should have been at least one South American team in the semifinals, it's a shame for world football," he added.

Just didn't work

Midfielder Gilberto Silva said France deserved its victory. ``It's not that we played badly, we tried but it just didn't work. They were very well organised but we didn't manage to score a goal. I can't remember exactly what Parreira said in the dressing room after the game, but it was words of sadness.''

Ronaldo shared his coach's downbeat view of the game. ``I'm very sad, very disappointed with this defeat,'' said the Real Madrid striker who almost equalised on the stroke of full-time, only an acrobatic diving save by Fabien Barthez denying him a goal. ``We had plans to go much further, but it didn't happen. France was the better team, and when all's said and done, that's football. We are proud of how we battled and what we sacrificed in order to get this far.''

Juninho said Henry's sumptuous side-footed volley past Dida killed the game off for the Brazilians. ``Once they scored it was very difficult for us to turn it round,'' he said.

``I think that the team as a whole didn't play well... but now we have to accept the criticism and start to get the young players ready for the next World Cup. We didn't play as Brazil can.''

Meanwhile, France's formerly under-fire coach Raymond Domemech was barely able to grasp what had happened.

"There are times when one cannot really understand something one has just experienced," said the 54-year-old. "I tackled with them, I ran, I retained the ball, I did everything and lived everything with them tonight. I am exhausted but delighted. The oldies are still here," he added. — Agencies

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport