It’s all going Brazil’s way for World Cup — Scolari

FLORIANOPOLIS, Brazil — Luiz Felipe Scolari is not hiding his optimism with Brazil’s chance to win the World Cup title at home. The coach has been saying loud and clear that it will be Brazil lifting the trophy at the Maracana Stadium in a few months.

Scolari says everything is going Brazil’s way heading into the tournament and there is no reason not to think that the hosts can be successful.

Scolari says his team is ready and believes that playing at home with the support of its fanatical fans will be Brazil’s biggest weapon during the World Cup that starts in June.

“We are playing at home, we have the fans on our side and a team which is competitive and has a lot of quality,” Scolari said. “We have everything that allows us to be the best team. That’s why I fully trust that we can make it to the final and be the champion.”

Scolari made his comments during a FIFA-run workshop with representatives of the 32 teams that will play in the World Cup. More than 20 coaches attended the event in the southern city of Florianopolis to discuss the organisational aspects of the upcoming tournament.

Scolari said that what happened during the Confederations Cup last year gave a good indication of what Brazil has going its way ahead of the World Cup.

Fans had been jeering Brazil before the World Cup warm-up tournament but they were fully behind the squad once the tournament began. In addition, Brazil played extremely well on the field and won the title with five straight victories, including a commanding 3-0 result against defending World Cup champion Spain in the final at the same stadium that will host the World Cup final in July.

The coach said he was not nearly as optimistic before the 2002 tournament, which Brazil eventually won despite arriving with a squad that few believed could be successful. Scolari was also coach of Brazil at that time.

“We didn’t have a squad ready at the time, so I said that if we finished among the final four teams it would have had to be considered a good result,” Scolari said.

“Now I’m playing in Brazil, in front of my people, I have the 12th player [fans] on my side. If I can’t say that we are good, that we have a lot of quality and that we have good players, then there’s nothing I should be doing here.”

Scolari returned to Brazil’s command late in 2012 to replace Mano Menezes.