Zico "livid" at Brazil defeat

Brazilian legend Zico has admitted that he is "absolutely livid" following his country's 7-1 defeat against Germany in their World Cup semi-final on Tuesday.

The South Americans conceded five goals in the first 29 minutes of the match as they eventually fell to the biggest loss in their history.

It was also the biggest defeat suffered by any team in a semi-final and former Brazil captain Zico has expressed his anger at the display and the preparations that took place beforehand.

"I am absolutely livid at their performance," he wrote in his column for The Guardian. "Never in my lifetime did I expect Brazil could take such a beating.

"It makes me wonder if the preparation was actually as good as the Selecao's command made us believe. The fact is we capitulated to the first really strong team we encountered in this tournament and that cannot be overlooked.

"Any assessment will have to inquire why players who were not playing regularly for their club teams were given prominent roles until it was too late to do anything else. We also have to ask why Hulk and Luiz Gustavo, as hard-working as they are, do not feature for any big European sides. Even Neymar wasn't supreme at Barcelona."

Zico scored 48 goals in his 71 appearances for Brazil.