Mexican football has bright future, says coach Tena

The contrast could not have been greater as Mexico's jubilant coach Luis Fernando Tena greeted the media punching the air in delight as beaten opponent Mano Menezes was left looking like he could punch someone's head.

Tena's young side had just beaten hot favourites Brazil 2-1 to win their first Olympic soccer title, their first major international title and their first gold in any sport at the London Games against Menezes's team who limped away following another Olympic failure.

Tena, who is also assistant to national coach Jose Manuel de la Torre, could hardly contain his emotions as he said: "This is a great and emotional victory for our country. We have better players, more experienced players, a better selection of young players. Our coaches are better trained and paid, which is also important."

He added: "Our youngsters can look to the future more optimistically - they have left behind the old complexes. They look towards the future like conquistadors."

The victory is continuing a Mexican revival. They have now won the 2005 and 2011 World Under-17 Cups, some regional titles and reached the semi-finals of last year's World Under-20 Cup.

The defeat will be hard for Brazilians to stomach. They particularly wanted to take a London gold as their arch-rivals Argentina, Olympic champions in 2004 and 2008 had failed to qualify and this was seen as the perfect opportunity to match them. But as has happened so many times before in previous Games, Brazil blew their chance. They now have three Olympic silvers after final defeats in 1984 and 1988 and two bronze medals.

"You can see from the look on my face what my feelings are," he said. "I am very sad. We did some excellent work in the tournament but it wasn't enough. We suffered an early goal which forced us to change our strategy.”