Brazil failed to capitalise on tense atmosphere – Dunga

Dunga believes Brazil failed to take advantage of a tense atmosphere inside El Monumental in Friday’s 1-1 2018 World Cup qualifying draw against Argentina, but praised his side’s second-half showing.

Argentina are still searching for their first qualifying win after Lucas Lima’s first goal for Brazil cancelled out Ezequiel Lavezzi’s first-half opener for the hosts.

Dunga stated his surprise at the mood from the home fans and the Brazil head coach thought his side should have done more to capitalise.

“I’m not sure if you noticed but it didn’t seem like an Argentina stadium. Their fans were very tense and quiet inside the stadium,” he said. 

“We failed to take advantage of that in the first half and we knew we had to take advantage of that situation.

“In the second half we had greater energy, though we weren’t as technically good. We just tried to cause them more problems.”

Dunga praised Brazil’s improvement in midfield after half-time, and was left content with a potentially valuable away point.

“Things were not going our way in attack initially, we failed to keep the ball up front,” he added. “Then we tried to play more in the midfield area, allowing Neymar more freedom and also using the speed of Douglas Costa and Elias to penetrate.

“These latest qualifiers show what the classification is like. We have to win at home and away, try to generate some points, win some or draw.

“The result was good. Now we should improve our play and play better than we did.”