DOHA: Following the team's elimination from the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup, Brazilian legend Ronaldo has lent his support to requests that Brazil select a foreign manager.
Brazil was eliminated from football's championship tournament by a European team for the fifth consecutive time after Friday's quarterfinal loss to Croatia on penalties.
After the game at Doha's Education City Stadium, Tite reaffirmed his earlier declaration that he would retire after the World Cup, saying "the cycle is done."
Ronaldo told reporters, "I would love to see names like (Pep) Guardiola, (Carlo) Ancelotti, or (Jose) Mourinho managing Brazil. "These names have surfaced in Brazil, but I'm not the one making the decisions; we'll see what happens.
"Having a foreign coach for Brazil is not a problem in my opinion. The subject of who will lead Brazil as its next coach will be hotly debated. These names appeal to me greatly "Ronaldo, who won two World Cups with Brazil in 1994 and 2002, claimed that Brazil had suffered for shoddy defence that resulted in Bruno Petkovic's equaliser for Croatia in the 116th minute.
After the scores were locked at 0-0 at the end of normal time, Neymar started and finished a fantastic team goal in the 106th minute to give the South American squad the lead.
"We needed to be smarter, it's the only thing we needed to get through the tie," Ronaldo said. "We weren't able to run down the clock in extra time after the goal." Ronaldo also expressed confidence that Neymar would play again for Brazil after the Paris Saint-Germain forward raised the possibility of ending his international career.
He is quite disappointed with the outcome, Ronaldo remarked "He should feel that way right now; but, he will recover quickly and continue to represent Brazil. He is still young enough to compete in the following World Cup. I am pleased with the dedication he demonstrated to Brazil during the past six months.
He is very important to us and I hope that he returns even stronger soon, said Ronaldo. "He performed a terrific first game, suffered the ankle injury, and made a lot of sacrifices to play for the national team again," Ronaldo said.
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