Brazil drew 1-1 with Colombia in the last round of the Copa America group stage, which saw them qualify as the second in Group D and face Group C winner Uruguay in the quarter-finals. After the match, Brazil coach Dorival admitted that the team had some problems, but he couldn’t accept the referee’s decision.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Dorival said he believes Brazil made many mistakes when trying to transition from defense to attack. Dorival said: “We had trouble handling the ball today, and the opponent’s pressing and tackling in front of our box was very aggressive. We didn’t do a good job in transitioning from defense to attack, we need to go back and reflect on it. Colombia presented difficulties we hadn’t faced before, they’re completely different from the opponents we met previously. They’ve been undefeated for 25 consecutive games, which put a lot of pressure on us.”
Dorival then talked about the missed penalty for Vinicius at the end of the first half, and he also believes the yellow card his No. 7 received after just 6 minutes of the match was bizarre, which will prevent Vinicius from playing in the quarter-finals. Dorival said: “At that time, we were leading 1-0, a penalty that could have made it 2-0 deprived us of the possibility of controlling the match. We’ve been working hard, but no one can avoid wrong decisions, and we might encounter even greater difficulties at some point. The opponent scored right after the potential penalty wasn’t given, which in my opinion completely changed the match, it was a decisive moment. I’m not making things up, the fact is Brazil was harmed, only the referee and VAR thought it wasn’t a penalty. If we had extended the lead, Colombia would have had to attack more, exposing more space on the field.”
Dorival re-emphasized that the national team is still under construction, as this is only his seventh game coaching the team, so he believes ups and downs are normal, but they shouldn’t lose confidence in future progress. “Everything has a process, no one can develop by leaps and bounds, so there will be games like the one against Costa Rica, there will be good times like against Paraguay, and there will be less successful ones like against Colombia. I hope the team can grow according to the pattern, correctly recognize the ups and downs, and improve the shortcomings and make progress through training and matches. We’ve had good periods but not enough, and as the matches progress, progress will also be more obvious.”
Brazil and Uruguay’s Copa America quarter-final will be held in Las Vegas on July 7 at 9am.
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