Brazil coach Dunga said after yesterday’s 1-0 win over Colombia that his sides performance was “better than he expected.”
It was the manager’s first game back in charge of the Seleção after he was sacked from his first spell following the 2010 World Cup.
There was an initial fear amongst the country’s press that the players would still feel the weight of successive defeats at the World Cup to Germany and Holland, by scorel ines of 7-1 and 3-0 respectively. In Dunga’s squad of 22, 10 of the players were also involved at the FIFA World Cup.
“I didn’t expect our productivity to be as it was. Every player fulfilled the role we asked of them. Now we are going to analyse the game and see how we can improve.
“We were affected by what happened at the World Cup and we played a national side that has been playing together for four years,” Dunga said after the final whistle last night.
Captain and goalscorer Neymar also revealed that he played the match carrying an ankle injury that he had picked up with Catalan club Barcelona.
“I restrained from practising free-kicks in training because my ankle was still bothering me. But it was a good performance, we played well after everything that has happened. Now it has passed, and we look forward,” the 22-year-old said.
