Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said that he is thrilled with his team's third World Cup victory following their 2-1 win over Mexico in the group game that was played in Schalke on Wednesday. Goals from Maniche and Simao Sabrosa confirmed Portugal's top spot in Group D with nine points, while Angola's 1-1 draw with Iran helped Mexico to finish as runners-up despite their defeat to Portugal. “This was as tough a game as we had expected, but I asked my players to make it hard for me to pick my team for the next round,” Scolari said in a press conference after the game. However, Scolari insisted that Portugal will have a tough test in the second round regardless of their performance in the group stage, when they face either Argentina or Holland. “It's great not to have dropped any points, we have stacked up three good wins and now we have to build on that,” the Brazilian coach said. “But there are three games to go until the final and they're the hardest,” he added. The victory over Mexico is Scolari's 10th successive victory in World Cup competitions after winnng the trophy with his native Brazil in 2002. “Ten wins in the World Cup is the kind of thing that would mark anybody's life, especially mine,” Scolari said. Meanwhile, Mexico coach Ricardo La Volpe was left fuming over the chances his players missed in the defeat to Portugal. “Our main problem is scoring, we even had a penalty and didn't score it,” La Volpe said. The Argentine coach was disappointed that his team produced a fine performance but failed to convert their domination into goals. “We played well, I think we are playing the ball around better than our rivals. But we didn't score enough today and for a coach that's the most difficult problem to resolve,” La Volpe said. However La Volpe insisted that despite their difficult qualification, they now have to focus on the next game in the second stage. “We always knew this was going to be a difficult group, but now e can plan for the next weekend and look forward to the next challenge.”
