Mano Menezes promises to win the 2014 World Cup.

247 - The coach of the Brazilian national football team, Mano Menezes, commented for the first time this Sunday on two controversial issues: the seizure of his driver's license during a traffic stop by Operation Dry Law at the end of last month and his instability leading the Brazilian team until the 2014 World Cup. In an interview with the newspaper "Marca Brasil," Mano promised that Brazil will be six-time world champions in two years, despite the current poor performance.

Regarding the Dry Law episode, Mano said he would like to address the issue more broadly in the future, as his position could be "distorted." Then, the coach admitted he had made a mistake. "Yes, because (pause) I did what we culturally consider a habit, which we don't judge to be infractions, such as having a glass, a glass and a half of wine, with a couple of friends. And we can't do that anymore under penalty of being punished..."

The newspaper also asked if he felt "lynched" after the episode. "All good people suffer a lot. Bad people don't, they kick the problem away...", he said. When he was stopped, Mano was driving without a license and refused to take a breathalyzer test. The coach received a fine of R$ 957,70 and lost 7 points on his license.

Selection

The coach acknowledged that the national team's poor results could jeopardize his position. “People create the illusion that I would be secure if Ricardo (Teixeira, former president of the CBF) hadn't left. That's nonsense, it was never like that. I know that football is a passion and I've always been clear that results are an important part of the job. No coach wants to arrive in shaky shape to play in the World Cup in their own Brazil. He himself, in this case me, will make the decisions if I feel the work isn't going in the right direction.”

The newspaper asked directly if Brazil would win the 2014 World Cup, and his answer was also direct and confident. “We will win the Cup… We have a talented generation, with a very good mindset, capable of handling this situation of representing Brazil at such an important moment, even though they are young,” he said. “And we have mature players capable of balancing this, and in the coming months, or certainly next year, this will become quite clear to Brazilian fans. It’s time for that to become clear,” he concluded.

The coach also mentioned that he hasn't finalized the squad, but about 80% of the list is already formed. “Seventy, 80%... the care we took in making a longer list is because many things can happen in three months. Oscar, for example. Nobody would have imagined... Fortunately, FIFA helped us with the players under 23. But there are situations that only become clear in the final stretch of registration. Regarding those under 23, I already have a clear idea.”