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Scolari confident for Portugal
Portugal beat Estonia 1-0 in the World Cup qualifiers held last week. They now lead the group 3 standings with 20 points.
- NDTVSports
- Updated: February 25, 2007 09:52 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Lisbon :
Portugal beat Estonia 1-0 in the World Cup qualifiers held last week. They now lead the group 3 standings with 20 points and are almost certain to make it to the finals in Germany next year. With players like Luis Figo and Rui Costa coming to the end of their long and glorious careers, Portugal's generation next has just one representative--Christiano Ronaldo. However, their coach Luiz Filipe Scolari, among the best coaches in world football, is not too worried. "Our young players are very good. Rui Costa and have played very well, but we also have other young talented players," Scolari said. Defense tactics Carlos Alberto Parreira, who replaced Scolari as the coach for Brazil, has often been criticised for being a very defensive coach. However, Scolari says Parreira is the right man to help brazil win a sixth World Cup title next year. "Parreira puts the players to attack, but sometimes we need defenders. As a coach he has better tactics in defending than any other coach. Brazil are in very good condition in qualifications," Scolari said. Long way ahead 'Big Phil', as Scolari is popularly called, also had a word of advice for Indian football. "In India football is not the number 1 game, and that will take many years. The players should be good, and the schools and colleges should contribute. It will not happen overnight," he said. Perhaps the first step for India could be to try and hire somebody like Scolari as the national coach, but then again they probably can't afford him.Topics mentioned in this article
Football Luiz Felipe Scolari
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