By DPA
Buenos Aires : Argentina’s national coach Alfio Basile has admitted that “everything went wrong” for his team in the Copa America final defeat to Brazil 0-3.
“(Brazil) played better and beat us clearly. Everything worked out for them and nothing worked out for us,” Basile said in a press conference Monday outside Buenos Aires at the Argentine Football Association (AFA) offices.
After losing the final Sunday in Maracaibo, Venezuela, the Argentine team returned to Buenos Aires – with the exception of captain Roberto Ayala and Gabriel Milito – in the early hours of Monday.
“I have to have a strong head. It hurts and I am not happy. I thought we were going to win the final. I did not make changes at half time because I had to bring seven guys off the pitch and I preferred to support them. We never had clarity,” the Argentine coach said.
Basile noted that apart from the final match, Argentina played a great Copa America.
“Everything was positive except the final,” he stressed. “We programmed everything as usual. But when two giants play, the one who gets up in better shape wins. They scored a goal after three minutes and then they outdid us,” said an uncomfortable Basile.
The coach was criticised for not picking up the finalist’s medal after the game.
“The medal? It was there. I was not interested. It was all very messy and I stood there. It’s not such a big deal,” said Basile, who also declined to address the media after the final in Maracaibo.
It has been 14 years since Argentina last lifted a trophy at the Copa America in 1993, and its World Cup glory goes back to 1986.
By the end of Sunday’s final, the Argentine daily Clarin had a blunt headline: “Argentina suffered a nightmare with Brazil.”
The phrase captured the horror of many fans in the football-crazy South American nation, which has now seen its national team lose three straight international finals to archrival Brazil – the 2004 Copa America in Peru, the 2005 Confederations Cup in Germany and Sunday’s Copa final in Venezuela.