Robinho disappointed with Coach Dunga’s decision

Robinho, the star forward who played  for Brazil against Paraguay in the Copa America Quarter-finals yesterday  was substituted a little before the full time whistle, as Brazil went on to lose the game 4-3 on penalties.

The striker showed no regret in expressing his disappointment  as the national team manager Dunga decided to take him out of play to be replaced by Everton. His goal in the initial quarter of an hour marked the opening of the scoreboard. This was equalized by Derlis Gonzalez 18 minutes before the full time whistle, to keep the score even at 1-1. The game moved on to penalty shootouts where again, Derlis Gonzalez scored the crucial point to seal the win for the Paraguayan side.

Robinho stressed that he was desperate to take part in the penalty shoot-out, and was having a tough time trying to respect the coach’s decision.

“I wanted to stay to take a penalty, but I have to respect the coach’s decision,” said the player to SporTV after the game.

“Usually I’m there to take a penalty. Now we must face it – our team has a lot to improve on. If one loses, everyone loses.”

The former AC Milan player felt that it was their sloppy play in the second half that led to their exit from the tournament. Even though he played till the 87′, they couldn’t score a winning goal by the 90′.

“All due respect, but Paraguay aren’t among the best national teams,” he added.

“Sadly, our performance dropped in the second half. But we had the chance to finish the game.

“We could have won it, but we didn’t and conceded in a silly fashion.”

The substitute who came on for Robinho, Everton Ribeiro missed his penalty along with Douglas Costa in the penalty shootout.

Their captain, Miranda however refused to point out the fault at anyone and promised to comeback as a stronger side for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

“The ones who were prepared were chosen to take the kicks. That’s the thing with penalties, sometimes you can be ready and fail,” he said.”It’s a sad moment. We had a solid performance but then we conceded – on an aerial play – a penalty, and we were unfortunate in the shoot-out.” “We have to raise our heads and now think about the World Cup qualifiers – that’s the most important thing for us now.”