U-17 World Cup: Brazil coach rues missed chances

Kolkata, Oct 25 (IANS) Acknowledging that England were the deserving winners in Wednesdays FIFA U-17 World Cup semi-final, Brazil coach Carlos Amadeu rued the missed chances but said his boys have to look forward to the third-fourth place battle on Saturday.

"They were effective. They made opportunities and scored. England deserved to win. We had our opportunities in the first half. We made a good game but we could not score all goals today. That was our problem," Amadeu told mediapersons after his side went down 1-3 at the Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan.

"We played against a really great team. Well trained by (England) coach Steve Cooper with players having huge quality," he said.

Asked whether Brenner's miss in the second session proved the decisive moment of the match, Amadeu said: "In football you cannot pick one moment which will decide the match. We were playing good also when they scored first goal. We got the equaliser and had many chances to make it 2-1 but we could not. Both teams could have won."

He also did not agree that Brazil lost the game in the second half.

"We lost in 90 minutes. Today England left the first half leading and in the last whistle also they were winning," he said.

He denied that his boys got the tactics wrong.

"I think there wasn't any tactics problem. We were in a good game and we played a great game. We could attack from the wing and the middle. We had a chance with Brenner, had one where Lincoln couldn't touch the ball, Paulinho had space to go through then Alan.

"We had the control of the ball, but we couldn't put the ball inside the net. We were good in defence but where we made mistakes, England was there to score," the coach said.

Amadeu turned philosophical when asked to assess his team's performance throughout the campaign.

"I am sad because we would like to win but everything in our lives do not happen as we wish, we have to wake up and look to the future," he said.

"We have another match on Saturday and we are here to represent our country. As a leader I cannot let them be sad. They have to look forward to this match. Our dream was to play the final but we are here and have to be ready for next game."

Brazil will lock horns with the losers of the second semi- final between Spain and Mali in the third-place play-off.

He said not only Rhian Brewster, who fired a hat-trick to help England win the match, a number of other players looked promising for flourishing careers at the senior level.

"Not only him, but I have seen many players in this World Cup who can have a senior career to look forward to in the future. England, Brazil, Spain have some good players. So we hope to see them do well in the days to come," he said.