Brazil on Tuesday failed to secure qualification for the World Cup round of 16 thanks to the heroic goalkeeping of Mexico’s Guillermo Ochoa, who produced six saves during the0-0 draw in Fortaleza. The host now heads into its final group game against Cameroon on June 23 needing a result to guarantee qualification to the knockout phase. After the game, Brazil coachLuiz Felipe Scolari grumbled about Ochoa’s stunning performance.
“I did not like their goalkeeper. He was really spectacular, he did a great job, he was calm and confident onthe field — he was the man of the match,” Scolari said in his postgame press conference. “[We need to score] goals against Cameroon. We don’t know what the final score of Croatia-Cameroon [onWednesday] will be so we don’t know whether we will be going on to the next phase or not. Goals – that is what we lacked today.”
He added: “We had chances but they had a very goodgoalkeeper who did a marvelous job. Mexico also shot very well from outside the penalty box, so they had a very good day, so that is why we could not win. A 0-0 is never a good result but it doesreflect how close this match was. It was not a good outcome because a win would have given us the classification but we must respect our adversary, who played really well.”