Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has admitted that his side will need to improve if they are to win the World Cup for a fifth time.
“It was a hard win and it could have been different,” he said.
“The final touch of the ball to the goal needs to improve. We didn’t profit from all our opportunities and we must elevate the percentage of balls we feed in and the percentage we convert.”
Asked about the performance of the referee who sent off two Turkish players and awarded a controversial late penalty to Brazil, Scolari was enthusiastic.
“For me the referee was very positive,’ he said. ‘Of course I thought the penalty was in our favour. In my opinion the referee was not a problem.”
Scolari’s attitude was in marked contrast to that of his Turkish counterpart Senol Gunes, who said he was disappointed by the result and by the performance of the referee.
“There was a tremendous injustice in this result,” said Gunes. “It was great effort by us and we didn’t get what we deserved, and that was a point.”
Meanwhile, an unrepentant Rivaldo admitted that he exaggerated the incident in which Hakan Unsal was sent off.
“Obviously I exaggerated the incident for the guy to be sentoff,” he said.
“The ball hit my hand and my leg. It didn’t hit me in the face but that kind of attitude (kicking the ball against an opponent) must not be allowed on the pitch. He deserved to have a red card.”
