“We have to get out of a match like this one with the clear notion of how much Brazil has evolved, to the point of being far superior throughout the entire 120 minutes,” said Menezes. “We created many opportunities, but could not convert them, either because of our own errors or because of great saves by the Paraguay goalkeeper.”
He continued: “I have enough experience to know that in football the elimination of today serves to make them stronger, and supports the idea of a path to building a strong team. The difficulties you encounter in football make you learn to live with this kind of situation.”
Meanwhile, Seleção captain Lucio believes that Brazil have a bright future, and told reporters: “I believe that this generation has a future. We have been defeated, but that is over now, and it is not all bad. The competitions serve as learning to younger ones. Our team was better, but unfortunately failed to score.”
When asked if the defeat would see him retire from international duty, Lucio replied: “You hit that button again. It ends up looking like it is the desire of some that I quit. But my goal is to stay in the national team. I know that does not depend only on me, but the dream continues. I’ll do my best in my club to stay here.”
