Brazilian coach Carlo Ancelotti, whose team plays a friendly match against Croatia on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, said that the defeat against France (1-2) did not shake him.
We are not satisfied with the result, but the match shows us what we did well and what we can improve, said Ancelotti at the press conference after the match against France.
We competed until the very end, had a few good chances, but we lacked better ball control and more careful play. So, I am partially satisfied, he added.
The soccer players of Brazil, the five-time world champion, have arrived in Orlando, where they will compete against Croatia. Croatia previously defeated Colombia 2-1 in the same city.
We can compete with the best national teams in the world, without any doubt, said Ancelotti, who trained Croatian captain Luka Modrić in Real Madrid for years.
There are high expectations in Brazil before the World Cup, which starts in a little more than two months in the USA, Canada and Mexico. We remind you that at the last championship, Brazil was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Croatia after penalties.
– Against France, we played against an extremely strong and quality team, we fought until the very end and did our best to win. We will continue to try to win the title of world champion – emphasized the 66-year-old Italian, who has been leading the national team for a little less than a year.
The match against Croatia could be problematic due to injuries. Raphinha will miss the game after picking up an injury against France, while Vinicius Junior has been training in the gym but has yet to practice on the pitch with the squad. The Brazilian federation has not yet released official information.
Raphinha was excellent, he had a lot of opportunities and movement without the ball, but we had to replace him due to injury. Vini is always a threat, maybe he didn’t score in the last game, but he did a good job, commented Ancelotti.
Croatian coach Zlatko Dalić said that he will guard Vinicius like they guarded Colombian Luis Diaz.
– We have our own style. As we stopped Luis Diaz, so we will stop him. Vinny is a player of top quality, strength and speed. We will try to double protect and close it – said Dalić.
During the meeting with France, some Brazilian fans called for the return of Neymar, who Ancelotti did not invite, because he is not fully ready physically.
We focus on the players who are here. They did their best, trained hard and now we are preparing for Croatia, Ancelotti concluded.
(Vijesti.ba)
