'The worst day of my life': Brazil coach Scolari takes blame for 7-1 World Cup defeat

The coach described the “catastrophic” defeat as Brazil’s heaviest World Cup loss.

11:22 09 July 2014

Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who guided Brazil to the 2002 World Cup trophy, has blamed himself for 7-1 World Cup semi-final defeat by Germany.

He said: "I will be remembered as the coach to lose 7-1 but I knew that risk when I took the job.

"The person who decided the line-up, the tactics, was me. It was my choice."

He added: "My message for the Brazilian people is please excuse us for this performance.”

"I'm sorry that we weren't able to get to the final and we're going to try to win the third-place match. We still have something to play for."

Brazil was 5-0 down by half-time in Belo Horizonte as Germany reached the final in forceful style. The team will play against either Netherlands or Argentina in Brasilia on Saturday.

This is Brazil’s first defeat in the last 14 games they’ve played and coach Scolari refused to blame it on the absence of striker Neymar.

He said: "Let's not try to find an excuse in Neymar."

"We did our best - but we came up against a great German team.

"We couldn't react to going behind. Not even the Germans can tell you how this happened - but it's because of their skills and you have to respect that."