After the World Cup, Dunga resigned, and Mello expressed that he owed a lot to Dunga, who insisted on recruiting him for the national team and giving him important responsibilities. After Menezes took over, Mello was not called up, but he hoped to return to the Brazil national team, "Participating in the 2014 World Cup is my goal, I want to become the world champion in 2014. Did anyone from the Brazilian Football Confederation or the new coaching staff contact me after Dunga left? No." Looking back at 2010, Mello's evaluation was, "This was a positive year, positive in all aspects. Usually, you can learn a lot from failures and difficulties." Mello believed that as long as he performed well at Juventus, he would certainly be able to return to the national team, "Juventus is one of the biggest clubs in the world, everyone wants to play for Juventus. Juventus is a successful club, I can feel the weight of wearing this jersey. As long as I perform well there, I will have the opportunity to return to the national team."
In the quarterfinals of the South Africa World Cup, Brazil was overturned by the Netherlands with a score of 1-2, and Mello became the top culprit. He first scored an own goal allowing the opponent to level the score, then he was sent off with a red card for malicious foul. Regarding these negative episodes, Mello said, "Sometimes when I sleep, I recall these things, sometimes when talking about football, it is mentioned. Of course, we won't forget it. But these episodes no longer keep me awake. Anything can happen on the football field, we are human, and humans make mistakes, that's how it is. The equalizing goal by the Netherlands was a collective mistake, after that, the whole team was somewhat distracted for the second goal."
However, after the World Cup, Mello had once considered retirement, "After the World Cup, I received a lot of abuse, not only from the media but also from some former players who spoke ill of me, even attacking my family. I am used to pressure, but my family should not be blamed. At that time, I felt the filthiness of football, and I began to consider retiring. One day I thought, do I still need to continue? My family is wealthy, I don't lack money. After the World Cup, I communicated with fans on Facebook and Twitter, and I found that many fans still cared about me. It was my family and fans who gave me the strength to continue. When I returned from the World Cup to the airport, I heard fans calling me a hero."
The current Mello is obviously more mature than during the World Cup, "It wasn't the World Cup that made me mature, every minute of life makes you mature. I've learned a lot from my children and friends, every detail in life teaches you something and makes you mature."
The year 2010, which is about to end, has been a bittersweet year for Mello. After experiencing the slump in the first half of the year and the controversies surrounding the South Africa World Cup, the star player signed by Juventus in 2009 finally revived in the first half of this season. Now enjoying Christmas holidays in a luxurious villa in Paraty (near the border between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo), Mello recently opened up to GloboEsporte.com, recalling this extraordinary 2010 and looking forward to 2011.
Regarding the memories of this year, Mello said, "There is no doubt that the World Cup left a deep impression on me, unfortunately, we didn't win the championship. Another memory is that I have regained my peak form at Juventus. There was a period when everyone outside said Felipe Melo was finished, but I came back. In just two months, I became an idol for Juventus fans. Before the game, fans always shouted my name, holding posters of my portrait to cheer me on. I can feel that I am an idol for Juventus fans, someone rated me as the best-performing player in the past two months."
"Will I return to Flamengo in the future? The other day, I met Flamengo president Patricia Amorim at Disney, and we had a conversation. We both know that it would be difficult for me to return to Flamengo, and Juventus wouldn't easily let me go either. Recently, a club (Real Madrid) was willing to spend 35 million euros to acquire me, but Juventus didn't want to talk to them. Everyone knows I miss Flamengo, I have the dream of returning, but we must be realistic, we all know it would be difficult for me to return to Flamengo now."
Mello often gives the impression of being a thug, his red and yellow cards are always numerous, but Mello has improved now, "I'm not a thug, I'm just a very tough player. After the World Cup final, I changed a lot, so far this season I've only received four yellow cards. Do we have hope of winning the title despite being five points behind Milan? Hernanes of Lazio and Robinho of Milan have performed well, but we have defeated them. I don't want to talk about the Serie A title now, I just want to focus on playing game by game, each game is a final."