Brazil coach expresses concern before decisive match with Colombia

"Colombia are an interesting team. They have been unbeaten for 25 matches and that is not something they have achieved by luck, on the contrary, they have worked very hard," coach Dorival Jr said before the final match of Group D between Brazil and Colombia taking place at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow (July 3).

Brazil is still at risk of being eliminated if it loses heavily to Colombia in the final match of Group D of Copa America 2024 (Photo: Getty).

After two matches, Brazil is ranked second in Group D with one draw and one win. Coach Dorival Jr. and his team's place in the quarterfinals is still uncertain, although Brazil is 3 points ahead of third-placed Costa Rica.

The reason is that in case Brazil loses to Colombia in the final round, and Costa Rica wins against Paraguay, Selecao will still be eliminated due to losing goal difference.

Coach Dorival Jr.'s goal is not only to gain at least one point against Colombia to qualify for the quarter-finals, but also to top Group D to avoid meeting Uruguay in the knockout round later.

"I think this is one of the best generations of Colombian football players in recent years, with players playing for big teams around the world , many of them also playing for clubs in Brazil.

So the final group stage match against Colombia will be a very difficult match. It may not be an open match because the teams will be cautious in defense, but I think it will be a match with many opportunities. We hope that we can achieve the best result," coach Dorival Jr. expressed.

The 62-year-old added that he would not rest players at risk of receiving yellow cards such as Eder Militao, Lucas Paqueta and Vinicius Jr as he was still looking for the "best possible squad" for Brazil.

Colombia has an excellent generation of players and is not afraid of any opponent at Copa America 2024 (Photo: Getty).

Meanwhile, Colombia coach Nestor Lorenzo also highly appreciated Brazil - the team considered a candidate to win the Copa America 2024.

"With Brazil, you can never be complacent because they are a team with a lot of history. We are just starting to write a few pages of Colombia's history, which was very good at one point, but we hope to go further, to maintain that, we will do our best to achieve that.

Our top priority is to win the top spot, in addition to qualifying, we want to win the top spot, the whole team will play in the best way", coach Lorenzo affirmed.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/hlv-brazil-bay-to-lo-ngai-truoc-tran-quyet-dau-voi-colombia-20240702113050086.htm