Club World Cup: Scolari eyes Barcelona shock
Luiz Felipe Scolari insists Barcelona can be beaten when Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao take on the Liga giants in the Club World Cup semi-final.
The Brazilian saw his side come from a goal behind to secure a 2-1 victory over America on Sunday, with Zheng Long and Paulinho on target inside the last 10 minutes.
That set up a meeting with European champions Barca in four days and Scolari – who made three changes in the second half, including the introduction of Zheng – is ready to meet the challenge head on.
“Football’s a 90-minute game and we really wanted to make the semi-finals, so I made some high-risk substitutions,” he said.
“On this occasion, they worked – on another night it might not have done. But I know the team and I know what they can do.
“Club America are a huge team, with a fantastic history, but we fought back and won and we should continue to dream big for the next match against Barcelona. Victory is not impossible.”
Losing coach Ignacio Ambriz, meanwhile, was left to rue a late loss of focus.
He said: “We’re really disappointed. We really wanted to face Barcelona. However, I have to take responsibility for the result.
“We’re so frustrated as victory slipped from our hands. We could have won it but we lost focus.
“I warned the players about this in our training sessions and team meetings and it actually happened.
“We were in complete control of the game, we started well – got the goal, but errors cost us.”
