Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira admitted he had failed to get a team of star players to function effectively as a unit after Brazil's worst World Cup campaign in 16 years ended in quarter-final elimination against France.

Thierry Henry's solitary strike after 57 minutes in a game which - apart from the first and last 10 minutes - the French dominated, ensured that for the first time since Italia 90, when the Brazilians were beaten by old enemy Argentina in the last-16 stage, the 'Canarinhas' have failed to reach the World Cup final.

"We did not always have enough time to train together as a unit," said Parreira, who was coach when Brazil won their fourth World Cup in 1994 and admitted he was psychologically "unprepared" for failing to reach the final.

"We needed more playing time together. At one point we had eight months when we only had one match in Moscow with Russia but we also have to acknowledge that we played a wonderful French team who also did very well against Spain."

Parreira also gave short shrift to suggestions that he had persisted too long with some of his older players - when he fielded several reserves in the Group F match with Japan, won 4-1 by the five-times world champions, Brazil played their best football of the tournament.

"It's very easy to say that," said Parreira. "But you can't guarantee a team that played well against Japan could have taken us to the final."

Parreira also defended star striker Ronaldo, whose goal in the last-16 match with Ghana saw him score his 15th goal at a World Cup tournament, breaking the record held since 1974 by West Germany legend Gerd Muller.

Ronaldo featured heavily in the last 10 minutes of the match - the only time when the French defence nearly buckled under the pressure.

"Our best moments in this game came from Ronaldo," said Parreira, who claimed he would return to Brazil before making any decisions about his future.

"There were three moments when he put them in difficulty but unfortunately we could not quite find the goal we needed."