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| Thiago Silva |
Thiago Silva insists Brazil must forget about their World Cup humiliation ahead of their return to Mineirao.
Tite’s side face Argentina in their Copa America semi-final on Wednesday at the scene of their nightmare five years ago.
The match takes place at the Mineirao, the same stadium where Brazil were thumped 7-1 by Germany in the World Cup semi-finals in 2014.
“Nobody will forget what happened then. That match against Germany was horrible for us,” PSG defender Silva told Fox Sports.
“But that was a different situation. Now we are facing Argentina and we need to focus on playing our game. We will need to be careful because it’s a team that has the best player in the world (Lionel Messi).
“We have a lot of respect for them.”
Argentina have reached four of the last five Copa America finals but have not won the tournament since 1993.
Everton forward Richarlison hopes to be fit for the last four showdown after being diagnosed with mumps on Thursday.
“Argentina will always be Argentina, even if it’s not going through a good moment,” Silva added. “We have a lot of respect for them.”
Argentina lost the 2015 and 2016 finals on penalties to Chile with Barcelona forward Messi yet to win anything with his country despite a decorated club career.
But the 32-year-old is confident they can overcome Brazil and reach Sunday’s final, with the winners facing defending champions Chile or Peru.
“They have players who can make the difference up front,” Messi added to Fox.
“We thought we would finish first in the group and be on the other side of the draw, but we are in semi-finals and only the best teams are here.”
Press Association
