Brazil’s technical director, Carlos Alberto Parreira, has played down the pressures associated with his side hosting this year’s World Cup, in a tournament the entire nation expects them to win.
Parreira, who won the competition in 1994, told esportes.terra.com: “We are, in quotation marks, the country of football that lost the first World Cup at home and has the obligation to win the second.”
“This gives us great responsibility, but it is not reaching us.”
“We have a goalkeeper who was once one of the best in the world, our wing backs are amongst the bset in the world, and some of the best strikers in the world.”
Brazil will start as favourites when the tournament kicks off on June 12 and any pressure laid at their door will be be soaked up by Parreira and head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.
