Johannesburg - Carlos Alberto Parreira has admitted there were unrealistic expectations of Bafana Bafana at the Soccer World Cup.The Brazilian watched his men fight gallantly at the showpiece - recording a draw against Mexico coupled with a memorable victory against France, but it was not enough to take them to the knockout stages.The coach, who lifted the World Cup in 1994 with Brazil, revealed that those who envisioned them making the final stages of the tournament were not thinking clearly."We have to be realistic, for example with the credentials we had in the Bafana team will it be realistic if we say we had to go to the final looking at the players we had and looking at the FIFA rankings?" asked Parreira."So that's why I never put pressure on my players to go to the next round and I just told them to go out and work hard. The players did well."When people remind me that we were knocked out in the first round I ask them if they looked at the group we were in. Three of the former World Cup winners were in our group and I think our group was going to be difficult for any other team in this World Cup."We were knocked out, but we played some fantastic football," Parreira concluded.The Brazilian's contract with Bafana is set to expire 30 days after the World Cup final, but his assistant Pitso Mosimane should replace him in the next few days.
Follow Sport24 on Twitter and Facebook
Your Name
* Your Email
* Recipient's name
* Recipient's email
Your message
If you want to email this page to more than one person, just put a semicolon ";" between the email addresses. * = Compulsory
Yes - it's just back to daily life now
Sort of - I will feel better each passing day
No - I miss the vibe and bustle so much it hurts
Don't care - didn't get into it anyway
View Results | Vote Archive
36% Yes - it's just back to daily life now
20% Sort of - I will feel better each passing day
33% No - I miss the vibe and bustle so much it hurts
11% Don't care - didn't get into it anyway
Vote Archive
Twitter Follow Sport24 on Twitter
Newsletters Sign up for Sport24's Morning Glory newsletter
Blogs Yes your opinion counts. Get it out there
WIN Enter and win with Sport24!
Mobile Sport24 on your mobile phone - WAP, alerts, downloads, services
BlackBerry Stay in the loop on your BlackBerry
iPhone Latest Sport24 news on your iPhone
Facebook "Like" Sport24's Facebook page
TV schedule Plan your couch time with our searchable sport TV guide
RSS Feeds Sport news delivered really simply.