Dani Alves insisted Brazil’s 7-1 rout of Haiti had nothing to do with the team’s capitulation at the hands of Germany at the 2014 World Cup.
After playing out a goalless draw with Ecuador in last week’s opening Group B fixture, Brazil took a step toward the Copa America quarter-finals with a demolition of the Caribbean minnows courtesy of Philippe Coutinho’s hat-trick in Orlando, Florida.
Brazil were on the opposite end of a 7-1 drubbing against eventual world champions Germany in the World Cup semi-finals two years ago, but Alves – wearing the captain’s armband at Camping World Stadium – insisted that horrendous night in Belo Horizonte is in the past.
“There’s no comparison with that 7-1 result,” Alves said. “In life you always have to think that if you cannot improve to the past, improve the present.
“I do not think even the Germans believed in the result. Unfortunately this is football, and you pay dearly if you’re not prepared to face the opponent. We need to keep things positive, and think of good things not bad.”
Alves, whose Brazil face last year’s semi-finalists Peru in their final group game on Sunday, added: “The fans suffer more than us, this is real, someone who lives football as much as they who love what you do, then it hurts so much to the fans.
“What happened, happened. I’m sure that it will not happen again if we can be better prepared.”
COMMENTS