World Cup 2010: Brazil coach Dunga hails 'near perfect' North Korean defensive display

After seeing his Brazil side eventually overcome North Korea 2-1, Selecao coach Dunga conceded that his side could have performed better in the first half, having failed to make a breakthrough until the 55 minute.

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"Every team has to be efficient in the World Cup," said Dunga after match.

"We have to have quality to attack and defend with efficiency. In the first half we didn't play well, we weren't moving the ball quickly enough. In the second half, it got better," the 46-year-old began.

“We were faster and created more chances. Obviously we wanted to be scoring goals without conceding any, but the first game is always hard. Conceding goals happens to everyone, it's a normal thing in football.

The Brazilian took time to praise the efforts of their opponents, admitting that Korean offered an almost perfect defensive performance, one that his charges found difficult to break down.

"When you face a team that attacks you, it opens up spaces. It's hard to face a team that just defends.

"You have to move the ball well and create spaces. If you look back at the footage, the way that North Korea moved to close the spaces was almost perfect."

On Robinho and Kaka, the Brazil head coach admitted that the Manchester City striker was a good candidate for man of the match, while the latter didn't shine as much as he has in the past.

"We already knew that Kaka was going to be substituted. We thought that they were going to go forward a little bit so I put in Nilmar for speed.

"Robinho is very versatile. He knows how to play in various positions."

Dunga added: "As the defenders pay a lot of attention to players like Kaka and Robinho, they have to change positions.

"I'm very satisfied with Robinho's growth, especially because there were people that didn't want him at the Selecao."

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