Brazil manager Mano Menezes was full of praise for his side in victory over New Zealand in their final group stage encounter of the London Olympics.
Resting Oscar, Hulk and Rômulo, while deprived of Ganso through injury, Menezes called upon several ‘reserve" players for the fixture and was rewarded with a 3-0 victory.
“I really liked the Seleção [today]," Menezes told Globoe Esporte. “We already had the idea of using this midfield formation because we knew we may be an important option in certain situations.
“You evolve some ideas and adjust certain details. I"m happy with the inclusion of a few players and that we maintained our performance level."
One matter that left the coach disappointed, though, was the red card handed to Alex Sandro, following a second-yellow for simulation. The referee was quick to dismiss the Porto player, having earlier shown lenience to the opposition.
He added: “It"s unfortunate that we lost Alex Sandro. The first yellow card, I didn"t think was right because it was a clash of heads.
“The second, looking at the criteria used, could have been a verbal warning as their number nine was warned some five times."
