KOLKATA: Brazil coach Carlos Amadeu today said they experienced their worst game in two and half years, after an unconvincing 2-0 win over Mali to finish third in the FIFA U-17 World Cup here.
Brazil went into the lead with a weak attempt from Alan in the 55th minute as the ball dribbled through the hands of Mali's goalkeeper Yousouf Koita, while Yuri Alberto drove home Paulinho's assist to seal the win in the 88th minute.
"We had our worst game of the World Cup, the worst match in two and half years of preparation. But we were lucky it went our way," Amadeu said at the post-match news conference at the Salt Lake Stadium.
"We tried to show you Brazilian football but today we could not. In all the competitions, we have showed what Brazilian football is all about." This was the three-time champions' best showing in the tournament since 2005 when they had finished runners-up.
Amadeu said it was very tough to motivate his players for a third-place game as they were very heartbroken after losing the semifinal to England three days ago.
"We know we could have done much better today. When you lose a semi-final you want to live. We always want to win when we cannot win anymore we want to live. This is why it's so difficult to motivate these players. We had to work hard to keep them motivated in the game."
"Like for example, I told them today this crowd may not be here for us but to see the final but if they're here to see the third-place match then they want to see Brazil and Mali. So let's give them a show. We would like to have a great game. We could not but that's what we were trying." The coach further urged the need to be more organised to catch up with the other nations.
"We have to be more organised every year. Football is growing, nobody owns football. Everybody is getting organised, we have to do the same." Mali coach Jonas Komla backed his goalkeeper Yousouf Koita and said it's part and parcel of football.
"He's also a human. I'm not angry with the goalkeeper at all. We had a lots of opportunities to score but it was hard luck today."
"We had a very nice match and had a lot of opportunities but unfortunately we could not score any. The opposition team were stronger and took their chances. I'm proud of my boys." He said his players got confused after conceding an easy goal.
"We got confused between speed and technique, after conceding the first goal, we wanted to score as fast as possible but faltered."