Marquinhos on the Copa knockout challenge: “It’s a new competition” | OneFootball

Marquinhos during a press conference with the national team in Houston, on the eve of the match against Japan in the World Cup round of 32Credits: Rafael Ribeiro/CBF

Captain Marquinhos highlighted this Sunday (28) the difficulties the Brazilian National Team will face in the World Cup knockout stage. In a press conference on the eve of the match against Japan in the round of 32, he stressed that Brazil will begin a “new competition” this Monday against a “very qualified” team.

“Now a new competition is about to begin. The group stage is one thing; the important thing is to qualify. The knockout stage is a new competition. We have to take it one step at a time. From our own experience in another World Cup, we saw how important it is to stay focused on every moment, on every detail of the game,” he warned.

Brazil will face the Japanese side at one of the best moments in its history. Following the national team’s strong performances in the 3-0 wins over Haiti and Scotland, the center back highlighted the progress Carlo Ancelotti’s team has shown with each match.

“(We want to) neutralize Japan well, because they are very qualified and earned their place here. And we also rely a lot on our own strength; we’ve been improving over the last few games. We may not have started the competition in the best way, but we improved in the second game and even more in the third,” said the No. 4.

Marquinhos during a press conference with the national team in Houston, on the eve of the match against Japan in the World Cup round of 32Credits: Rafael Ribeiro/CBF

In addition to the comfortable scorelines, Brazil took all three points against Haiti and Scotland without conceding a goal. For the 32-year-old defender, if the Canarinho’s objective is to finish the match without being scored on, the chances of victory increase because of the squad’s attacking quality.

“I think with the attacking quality and strength we have, if we don’t concede goals, then we’re certainly very close to qualifying, to winning. I think the team, as I said before, has grown, improved, clicked, and is understanding each other more and more,” he emphasized.

Brazil faces Japan at 2 p.m. Brasília time this Monday (29) at Houston Stadium, in Houston, Texas, United States, in the World Cup round of 32.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.