Football
ESPN staff 10y

Scolari full of praise for Ochoa display

Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari hailed Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa's performance after Tuesday's 0-0 draw, while he feels his side need to improve their finishing if they are to do well in the World Cup.

- Carlisle: Ochoa comes up big for Mexico

The Selecao were left frustrated by Ochoa's display in goal in the Group A clash as he kept their attackers at bay with a string of impressive saves.

The result means Brazil failed to secure their qualification early for the next round and now go into the final group game against Cameroon on June 23 likely needing a result to advance.

"I did not like their goalkeeper. He was really spectacular, he did a great job, he was calm and confident on the pitch -- he was the man of the match," Scolari told a news conference.

"[We need to score] goals against Cameroon. We don't know what the final score of Croatia-Cameroon [on Wednesday] will be so we don't know whether we will be going on to the next phase or not. Goals -- that is what we lacked today.

"We had chances but they had a very good goalkeeper who did a marvellous job. Mexico also shot very well from outside the penalty box, so they had a very good day, so that is why we could not win."

Scolari added: "A 0-0 is never a good result but it does reflect how close this match was.

"It was not a good outcome because a win would have given us the classification but we must respect our adversary, who played really well.

"Both teams tried to score quality goals. There was a lot of physical effort that was evenly matched."

Scolari made one change to the side that started in their opening group game against Croatia, with Ramires coming in for Hulk, who suffered an injury in training.

"Hulk could have played today but he decided to stay on the bench, so we started with Ramires. But if he believes he can play in the next match we will put him back on the pitch," Scolari said.

"This is my team. I may replace some of them against Cameroon, I may begin the match with a different lineup. It is not a matter of trusting or not trusting my players. I trust them all."

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