The former Brazil legend believes the Tottenham midfielder was fortunate not to be punished by Mexico for his performance last Tuesday.
Superior opposition would have taken advantage of Paulinho"s current form, Zico said.
He told The Guardian: “Paulinho had a tough season at Tottenham and it"s blatantly clear that he lacks rhythm and confidence. He is not as incisive as he used to be. That had obvious effects in Brazil"s midfield."
Zico continued: “Mexico dominated the action there [in central midfield] enough to scare a lot of people. Ah, the game finished 0-0 and some commentators argued that Mexico resorted to long shots when they couldn"t penetrate the Brazilian box. So what? They had a decent number of them on target. Another team with better players for that kind of shot, such as Holland"s Wesley Sneijder and even Lionel Messi, would have loved so much space."
