Brazil must improve against Colombia, says Scolari

SAO PAULO –– Brazil’s players have Sunday off after an exhausting win over Chile but they will be back at work early on Monday when coach Luiz Felipe Scolari will start preparing for the World Cup quarter-final showdown with Colombia.

Brazil looked over-awed and were fortunate to escape with a 3-2 penalty shootout win over Chile after the match finished 1-1 at the end of extra time.

“We will look at how we won and why we won and all the situations in which we did not complete passes or make chances so that we can improve the next match,” Scolari told reporters.

“In every match difficulties are escalating and we need to improve.”

The match was intense and exhilarating and Scolari said he would try to use the emotionally draining game to inspire his squad.

“When you win this way, with this level of emotion, you can turn it into a positive thing to show them it is down to their performance and so we try to look for their best moments and value them,” he said.

Scolari was at the helm when Brazil won the trophy in 2002 but his current squad has little World Cup experience and he said that might have been telling against Chile.

“Even the most experienced players feel the pressure in the World Cup,” the former Chelsea and Portugal coach said.

“Everybody does, if you say you don’t you are lying. The emotions are different, it is not a normal match. As we have so many of new players they are gaining experience little by little.”

Brazil, who play Colombia in Fortaleza on Friday, need to work on scoring goals and shoring up their toothless midfield.

Although Hulk had a goal chalked off for handball, Chile controlled much of the second half and nearly sealed a famous win when Mauricio Pinilla struck the crossbar in the dying seconds.

“We gain experience as we go on,” Scolari added. “So let’s see if we can make less mistakes in the next matches. If we make errors we provide chances for the opponent and we might not be as lucky and we might concede a goal like we almost did today in the 118th minute. So let’s try and work on that.

“We scored, and then we conceded due to the error on the flank and that is not acceptable today at international level,” he said.

“And then we had three or four chances to score and we didn’t because we were trying to be too precise. So then you run more risks than at any other moment. We had the goalkeeper making two or three good saves; if you are not scoring then you run risks.”