(Sports Focus) Brazil still licking wounds a year after Mineirazo

Brazil's assistant coach at last year's World Cup has admitted the players lost control of their emotions in their 7-1 semifinal loss to Germany.

Wednesday marked the one-year anniversary of the "Mineirazo" and Brazil's leading newspapers dedicated large amounts of editorial space to re-analyze the defeat and discuss its lasting impact.

"We were very nervous and felt the responsibility of having to win," Carlos Alberto Parreira told the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper. "It was a team that wasn't used to making decisions."

Parreira coached Brazil to victory at the 1994 World Cup and returned to lead the team for a second time from 2003 to 2006.

In late 2012 he accepted an offer to work as Luiz Felipe Scolari's assistant and technical director, a role he held until days after the World Cup, when he was sacked along with the rest of the coaching staff.

The 72-year-old said Brazil - five-time World Cup winners - had suffered from issues at the grassroots level, starting with the country's disjointed youth structure and a continued exodus of top young players to Europe.

"We want to blame the national team for all of the problems in Brazilian football," Parreira said. "But it should be the contrary. The national team is at the top of the pyramid. It's what happens below it that affects how the team plays."

The World Cup humiliation on home soil led to months of soul searching and a vow from new coach Dunga, who took charge of the national team for a second time after Scolari's dismissal, to reclaim Brazil's past football glory.

Early results under Brazil's 1994 World Cup-winning captain were promising. Brazil won 11 straight matches before losing 1-0 to Colombia during the group stage of the Copa America in Chile last month.

Days later, the Selecao crashed out of the continental tournament, falling to Paraguay on penalties in the quarterfinals.

The result showed the wounds inflicted by Joachim Low's team on that gloomy Belo Horizonte afternoon are yet to heal.

"It's going to take many years before we will understand what happened. It's not something that is tangible," Parreira said.

"For a year we rode high on the [3-0] victory against Spain in the [2013] Confederations Cup final. I'm not saying it was a misleading result, but it caused us to exaggerate our expectations."

Parreira's comments were largely echoed by other prominent figures in Brazilian football, including former national team greats.

"For those that live for football like I do, there is no way to explain the disaster," said Pele, widely regarded as the game's greatest player.

According to former Selecao midfielder Zico, Germany's crushing victory reflected a lack of planning and tactical coherence from Scolari's side.

"It was a great performance from a team that was well structured and organized," he said. "Unfortunately it was against our team, which didn't have that."

Two-time World Cup winner Tostao described the result as a "reality check" that showed Brazilian football had failed to move with the times.

"It was an extraordinary scoreline, unexpected and atypical," said the former attacking midfielder.

"It was a dominant performance; a historic result and one that carries an enormous weight. It was negative but it was also a reality check; a demonstration of our footballing fragility." Endi