WORLD CUP USA ‘94: QUARTERFINALS : Spotlight : DON’T CALL US EUROPEANS

Brazil’s greatest soccer victory in 16 years was less than an hour old and there was Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira behind the microphone, again playing defense.

Parreira, who has been hammered all tournament by critics, responded to the biggest of them all--Brazilian legend Pele, who has dismissed Parreira’s brand of soccer as “too European” and lacking true Latin finesse and elan.

“There has been a great deal of misunderstanding,” Parreira said when asked about Pele’s charge. “We have never played and we do not pretend to play European style. We play with a flat back four. We don’t use the long ball. We don’t use man-to-man marking. The only thing we try to do is organize the team when it doesn’t have the ball.

“The team has what it takes to be world champion. We try to achieve balance between offense and defense. Anything else is just a lot of stories.”