Scolari says Palmeiras would strive to win three upcoming titles

Luiz Felipe Scolari, a former head coach of the Brazilian and Portuguese national teams, is happy to be back for a third stint at local football club Palmeiras.

He also said his squad would strive to win all three of the competitions it is competing in -- the Copa Libertadores, the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A (Brazil's first division) and the Copa do Brasil.

The 69-year-old Brazilian, who attended an introductory press conference on Friday, praised the club's new structure and said he was motivated to win "many more things", reports EFE news agency.

Scolari previously coached Palmeiras from 1998 to 2000, a period in which the club captured its first and only Copa Libertadores title (in 1999), and again from 2010 to 2012.

He will be back on the bench for Palmeiras on Sunday for a Brazilian league contest against America Mineiro, while on August 9 his squad will take on Paraguayan club Cerro Porteño in the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores, South America's premier club tournament.

"We have (league games) until (year's end), the Copa do Brasil and Libertadores, where we have to win to keep going. You can't prioritize. You have win all of them," the veteran manager said.

Scolari, who was head coach of the Brazilian squad that lost 1-7 to Germany in Belo Horizonte in the semi-finals of the 2014 World Cup, said that crushing defeat was in the past and that he is now remembered for what he has accomplished throughout his career.

"Brazil finished fourth in the 2014 World Cup and no one is going to sugarcoat the loss we suffered. Life goes on ... and one negative result doesn't cancel out 99 positive ones," he said.

A head coach for a quarter-century whose list of former teams includes Chelsea and most recently Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao, Scolari said his time in the Asian nation had been a good learning experience and that he would like to return there some day.

--IANS

ajb/hs