After Brazil suffered their "worst loss" in their most important home
game in 64 years, all coach Luiz Felipe Scolari could do was take the
blame for his team's 7-1 thrashing at the hands of Germany.
"The catastrophic result can be shared with the whole group, but the
choice and who decided the tactical lineup -- I did. The person who is
responsible is me," Scolari said.
Brazil were undone when Germany scored five goals within 30 minutes
in the first half, including four goals in a seven-minute span.
"My message is for the Brazilian people that we tried to do what we
could do," Scolari said. "We did what we think was our best and we lost
to a great team who in six or seven minutes, ended the game in an
extraordinary manner.
"I'm sorry that we were not able to get to the final and we will continue to honour what our team is and fight for third place."
Brazil appeared helpless during Germany's onslaught, with Scolari saying "I think everyone blanked out."
"We tried to organise, but there was nothing we could do at that moment," the coach said.
Brazil were lacking injured star forward Neymar, but Scolari said his presence would not have made a difference.
"There's no regret, but it didn't work out in 10 minutes of the match
today. The German team was fantastic," he said. "They probably could
have done it with Neymar on the field as well.
"Let's not try to find an excuse. What happened is that Germany had a
fantastic rhythm and defined the match. Germany made use of those
moments and Neymar has nothing to do with that. He would not have made a
difference to defend all of the goals. Germany would have done this
regardless."
Brazil were also missing centre-back Thiago Silva, who was suspended
after earning his second yellow card, leaving David Luiz to manage the
back with Dante, who was making his debut at the tournament.
Luiz was left in tears after the match as he walked off the pitch.
"I am sorry we couldn't give the fans happiness," he said. "We didn't
get it and I ask all of Brazil to forgive me. I only wanted to see all
of Brazil smile. This was the most important match of my life."
Right-back Dani Alves was at a loss for solutions to Brazil's first-half problems.
"This has been like a nightmare you have about football," he said.
"Never in football match has this ever happened to me. Theirs is a team
very well put together, very complete in all zones. We lost the match in
six minutes. In all of my 31 years I have never seen six minutes that
cannot be explained as ours were."
Scolari said he tried to rally his players after the early setback,
just as he will have to rally them to compete in the third-place match
against the loser of Argentina and the Netherlands on Saturday.
"I did my job as I've always done it anywhere. I did what I thought
was best," Scolari said. "It was a terrible defeat because of the
result, but we tried to make it respectable. We all lost, but don't
forget there's a match on Saturday, and we can still be third."
Scolari also took solace in the fact that many of his players will
return for the 2018 World Cup, while implying Germany's players were
nearing the edge of their careers.
"This team of Germany played the 2008 Euro and 2010 World Cup. Half
of our team will play at the next World Cup," Scolari said. "We will see
at least 13, 14, 15 players in 2018. It's our worst loss, but we have
to learn how to deal with it."
It remains to be seen if Scolari will be retained to guide his
players in Russia, though Scolari would not admit any regrets on Tuesday
night.
"Regret what?" he asked. "I don't have any regrets for the choices I made, but I have to put up with the consequences."
