Robinho wants to do more to help Brazil at WC

Robinho wants to do more to help Brazil at WC

Published Jun. 29, 2010 3:26 p.m. ET

Robinho feels he needs to do more to help Brazil win a sixth World Cup title.

Despite playing well and scoring his first World Cup goal in the team's 3-0 win over Chile on Monday, the striker says he is still not at his best and wants to improve for the final stages of the tournament in South Africa.

"I'm happy for the goal," the Santos striker said. "But I think I could've played better, I know I have to play better."

Brazil advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Cup with the victory against Chile and now will face the Netherlands on Friday in Port Elizabeth.

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Robinho was key for Brazil at Ellis Park Stadium, participating in the attack that gave Brazil its second goal through striker Luis Fabiano in the 38th minute, and then scoring himself with a well-placed shot from the edge of the area in the 59th. Chosen the man of the match by FIFA, he also had a goal correctly disallowed for offside in the 77th.

Robinho said he didn't even think he deserved to be named the man of the match, and said other Brazilian players could've been given the honor on Monday.

He said the goal was important, however, and should help him improve for the next matches.

"The tendency now is to get better," Robinho said. "After that first goal, it usually gets easier to score more."

Robinho had already played well in Brazil's first two matches, getting assists in the team's 2-1 win over North Korea and in the 3-1 victory over Ivory Coast. He didn't play in the 0-0 draw against Portugal in the final Group G match as a precaution because of a minor left thigh problem.

Robinho also said he was not totally satisfied with how Brazil played against the Chileans even though it was the team's best performance at the World Cup so far.

"It was a good match," he said. "But we have to get better, we cannot be completely happy, we always need to try to improve."

The goal was Robinho's seventh in Brazil's past six matches against Chile, and the eighth overall against the South American rival, allowing him to join Brazil great Pele as the Brazilian with most goals against the Chileans.

"You can't compare anyone with Pele," the 26-year-old Robinho said. "But I'm happy that I get lucky every time that I play against Chile."

Robinho arrived at the World Cup as one of Brazil's biggest stars along with Kaka. He was a member of the Brazilian team that fell to France in the quarterfinals of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, but played only a few minutes at the time as a youngster.

Robinho is playing with Brazilian club Santos on a loan from Manchester City, where he failed to live up to expectations after a British record signing from Spain's Real Madrid. The striker says he wants to stay in Brazil after the World Cup is over, but acknowledges that his future is yet to be decided.

For now, he says his focus is only on the World Cup.

"My only goal is to help Brazil win the world title," Robinho said. "It's going to be a difficult match against the Netherlands, but I'm confident and we are prepared."

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