Kolkata Oct 28 (IANS) A candid Brazil coach Carlos Amedeu admitted on Saturday that their third-place clash against Mali was the worst game they played in the two and half years of preparation for the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Brazil won 2-0 but the coach said both the goals came from fortuitous circumstances and that the players lacked motivation as the team failed to win the semi-finals against England.
"Today we had our worst game in this World Cup. This was our worst match in all over two and half years of preparation " Amadeu told reporters at the post-match press conference.
"We were lucky due to three incidents. First defender lost the ball and Alan got space. Then the goalkeper made that error. Mali had a great team also they had shots on goal all over competition " the 52-year old added.
The Brazil players lacked the urge to fight it out on the field as it was a third-place game with only consolation prize to look forward to the coach said.
"First of all we have to look at Mali who made a great game. Their style of coaching is really good. We have to watch ourselves. We always want to win and we have this culture that if we lose the semi-final we want to leave. The players lacked motivation " he said.
"Today I told them they could be here for final. But they (fans) want to see Brazil play so I asked them to give their best."
Amedeu s Mali counterpart Jonas Komla rued the wasted opportunities adding that goalkeeper Youssouf Koita was only human to commit that gaffe that led to Alan s opener.
We had a nice match. Happy with the way we played. We could not score goals despite getting so many chances and Brazil took the opportunities and scored " Komla said.
"He (Koita) is human. Humans make errors. After that also we had our chances to score but this is hard luck " he added.
--IANS
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