Brazil Coach Felipe Scolari has hit out at critics of the World Cup hosts ahead of the quarter-final meeting with Colombia.
Scolari’s side meet Colombia later today and a Press conference to preview the match saw Scolari engage in some tense sparring with the reporters present.
The subject of the Brazil squad making use of psychologists was a particular bone of contention, with AS reporting that Scolari accused the assembled journalists of ‘evil’ in their coverage.
He also invited the Press to ‘go to hell’ if they didn’t like his methods.
When the talk turned to the match, Scolari said he was unsure if the pressure of playing in front of their countrymen would affect the players.
“I don’t know if they’ll play differently. Good players have technical attributes and are well organised,” Scolari said.
“They’re no different in Brazil. Therefore we can hurt Colombia.
“There’ll be no special marking [on Juan Cuadrado or James Rodriguez]. We’ll mark them all. The only team that has used man-marking in the World Cup is the Dutch, who had Daley Blind on Alexis Sanchez.”
Scolari was asked for his impression of the difference between Colombia and Chile, who were bested by Brazil in the Round of 16.
“It’s a matter of technique. Chile have more strength and spirit. Colombia, as a team, is much better and they play football.
“Brazil’s wars are against Chile, Uruguay and Argentina. Games against Colombia are always cheerful. Colombia are good but we don’t go to war against them and we feel more comfortable.
“Almost all Round of 16 games were settled in extra time, except for Colombia.”
The Press conference concluded with Scolari asked if he was still confident of Brazil’s success in the competition.
“Absolutely. That’s what people expect of us,” he replied.
