Brazil suffered one of the most shocking losses in its history when it fell to Mexico, 2-1, in the gold-medal game at the London Olympics, and former Brazil great Romario, now oneof Brazil’s most outspoken legislators, blamed Coach Mano Menezes for the loss that kept intact Brazil’s record of never having won the Olympic gold.
“He doesn’t know howto plan for games,” said Romario, who lost in the 1988 gold-medal game. “He doesn’t know how to organize the team and in my opinion this result is entirely his fault. He is not good enough for the joband I hope he never has a chance to coach this team again.”
Romario said many of Brazil’s under-23 stars — Neymar, Thiago Silva, Lucas Moura, Leandro Damiao and Oscar — would forma key part of the country’s 2014 World Cup team.
“Brazil’s soccer confederation needs to start working tomorrow to avoid similar disappointment at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil,” addedRomario. “The planning begins now.”
How about this for the reason: Mexico is simply better than Brazil? If anyone is shocked by that, they haven’t been paying attention.
Agreed. Mexico’s defense looked impenetrable and was the verall diference throughout the tournament. Cprpna is the best goalie in Mexico and proved it again. If he does not get the call for W.C. 2014 I will be extremely surprised and would be a huge mistake. Anyone know why American born, Sacramento, California born Ponce was not picked up by Usa!??
Why is it so shocking? Brasil has always had trouble with Mexico losing to them in many championships. Brazil had an extremely hard time getting past Hpnduras who played with 10 in most of the game. Mexico beat Honduras twice in qualifying for Olympics, 3-0 1-0. In te second game Mexico fielded mostly bench players to get them the experience. One of those was the U20 3rd place team in U20W.C. goalie who was also on bnch throughout Olympics. It seems Mexico likes to give its younger generations the big stage experience whenever possible. U17 W.C. champ Fierro has been getting alot of minutes on top Chivas team since last season.
Is Mexico better than Brazil? I can say one thing, everytime I’ve seen them play Brazil, either Mexico wins or gives them a run for their money. Tactically and technically Mexico can hang with Brazil, this is the key difference in my opinion between the US Men’s team. Coaches in the US, including myself at times, emphasize speed and physical attributes over technical ability.