Santiago (Chile), June 18 (IANS) Brazil coach Dunga has admitted that his team need to learn to play without Neymar following the star forward’s post-match dismissal in the 0-1 defeat to Colombia in Copa America.
The Fc Barcelona forward was shown a straight red when an incident involving Jeison Murillo and Carlos Bacca boiled over after the referee had blown for full-time, one that also saw the Sevilla man sent off.
Speaking to the media after the match the coach stated that they must find a way of dealing with the loss of their star man.
He said: “I have to wait until tomorrow to begin to think how to play. We played once without Neymar (in the recent 2-0 win over Mexico) and we have to be ready, we have a group.
We would like to have him but it is not possible so we must find a way to overcome it and solve our situation.”
Dunga also passed comment on the approach of Colombia and expressed his opinion that the referee did not do enough to control the fixture.
He added: “I will have to see the pictures. During the confusion I did not see much. Some things happened that were not in our control.
Unfortunately, the referee did not know how to control the game. There were some harsh plays like the last game against Colombia.”
The 0-1 reverse represents Dunga’s first defeat since returning as coach and leaves Brazil with three points from their two Group C matches ahead of their final fixture with surprise leaders Venezuela.
