Gloom hits Brazil’s coach, fans

Press, 23 June 1986, Page 27

Gloom hits Brazil’s coach, fans

NZPA-Reuter Guadalajara, Mexico The Brazilian coach, Tele Santana, a picture of despondency, said after his team’s World Cup defeat by France yesterday that it could be the end of his coaching career. “I will return to Brazil and perhaps I will decide to retire,” Mr Santana said after France had won the quarterfinal on penalties.

Mr Santana congratulated the French team and said they could now become world champions for the first time.

“I think today’s game should have been the final of the World Cup. I thought that it should also have been the final four years ago in Spain,” he said. Brazil’s samba drums fell silent last evening as the country absorbed the shock of its defeat. Street vendors who had set up stalls in anticipation of a night-long bonanza quietly packed up their wares and police drafted into city centres to control crowds were sent home early. Despondent fans turned off 40,000 watts of sound amplification on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beachfront, the venue for lively night-long parties to celebrate Brazil’s, earlier victories in the tournament.

“It’s all over,”- wailed one fan, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Even the flags seem sad,” she said, pointing to the yellow, blue and green banners strung across the streets.