Invisiblewall.net: Gilberto Silva News

According to Brazilian newspaper Globo Esporte (Globe Sport), Gilberto trained with the Brazil squad on Saturday morning after an injury scare with his ankle.

Here is a translation of the article:

After taking a knock in training on Friday and being replaced by Joshua in the team, Gilberto Silva began Brazil’s last training session before the match against Ivory Coast. The player took to the field with the rest of the squad.

After warming up with the players, the coach Dunga again ordered the reporters away from the training session. It is the fifth Brazilian national team’s closed training since arriving in South Africa. Some have determined that the removal of the journalists after 45 minutes of activity was due to a photo taken of Josue as he trained with the first eleven. The communications director of Brazil’s national team, Rodrigo Paiva, however, said it was a technical decision.

Gilberto Silva concerned the coaching staff after leaving the last part of the training led by coach Dunga on Friday after receiving a knock to his ankle. The “volante” Gilberto was under observation and was reassessed by the medical department team on Saturday morning.

Brazil will play the Ivory Coast to 15h30m (20h30m in South Africa) on Sunday. If they win, the team will qualify for the final sixteen.

Globo reports (via Worldcupblog.org) that Gilberto Silva may have picked up an ankle injury in training for Brazil’s world cup game against Ivory Coast on Sunday.

Globo reports in Portuguese,

Gilberto Silva is doubtful for the second match of Brazil’s World Cup matches against Ivory Coast on Sunday in Johannesburg. In the final part of training led by coach Dunga on Friday on Saint Sthithians school’s pitch, with the doors already closed to journalists, the midfielder received a blow on his ankle and ended up leaving the session. Joshua filled the gap left by Gilberto.

Gilberto Silva is under observation and will be reevaluated by the medical team on Saturday morning to determine the severity of the injury. Brazil will play the Ivory Coast to 15h30m (20h30m in South Africa) on Sunday. If they win, the team qualifies for the last-sixteen.

The latest will follow as it comes in…

Reported by the dire Daily Mail

Blackburn are among a clutch of Premier League clubs willing to talk to Brazil midfielder Gilberto Silva who is ready to quit Panathinaikos and return to England.

The former Arsenal man, 33, will be allowed to leave for a small fee as the Greek side are struggling financially.

Fulham, Everton and Liverpool are also monitoring his situation.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1287747/Rovers-return-Brazilian-Gilberto-Silva-Blackburn-eye-Arsenal-midfielder.html?ito=feeds-newsxml#ixzz0rIdBwffZ

Sounds like a load of rubbish to me. The Daily Mail? The Daily Fail.

Gilberto has been talking about Kaka and how he will come good in the world cup tournament:

“In every game he will improve. It is very good to see him because he is really hungry to do well for Brazil and for himself. All the team are behind him and he has got the confidence of everyone. I am sure for the next games he will be much, much better.”

Talking about whether it was a good first game from Kaka,

“As a debut, I believe it was good. I didn’t know what condition I would be in for the World Cup because of injury, so I am happy. I hope to constantly improve, but the debut has been a positive one,” he told globoesporte.com.

Gilberto Silva feels that the world still hasn’t seen the best from Brazil - saying that when they play the bigger teams, they will really be able to turn on the style.

He told Press Association Sport (PAS):

“There is a difference when you play against the biggest teams, they go for the game, they want to win also and then that opens the game up.

“That creates more chances to score. Some small teams play all behind the ball. But I’m not sure if North Korea will play against the other teams in the group in the same way that they played against Brazil.”

I feel he’s right - North Korea sat 8 men in front of their goal for the first hour of their game. Bigger sides simply will not do this. Brazil will consequently have more room to attack and play their normal game.

Or at least we hope.

On Sunday, Brazil will play Ivory Coast in the World Cup.

He will be up against old Arsenal team mate Kolo Toure.

Here’s what Gilberto Silva said:

“We will be expecting a lot of difficulties against them. They have a strong team, but we are very confident that we can do well and win the game.”

“When Kolo and I went through Arsenal’s unbeaten (2003/04) season that was a great achievement for both of us and it will be nice to see him again at the Ivory Coast match.”

“We don’t know yet whether Drogba will play or not, even though he came on as a substitute [in his last game], but we’ll see.”

“Of course, we respect him when he plays against us, he’s a very important player for them. He is a player about which we should be very careful.”

“They have a strong team, we must play very well from the first to the last minute.”

“We have every preparation to make sure that the team keeps on improving.”

Gilberto will have to be on his toes

From Times LIVE:

Gilberto seemed to struggle in a fairly easy game against North Korea. He played fairly “invisibly” as usual, but slowness on his part let North Korea in for their only goal. He said:

“We expected a lot of difficulties in this game, but we didn’t expect North Korea to face Brazil and play their normal game.”

“I am not sure if they will play the same way against us as they will against the other two teams.

“But winning was most important and at the end of the day we got the result.”

True enough.

Brazil won 2-1 against North Korea on June 15th.

North Korea set up a defensive blockade for almost an hour until Brazil managed to break through and score.

Brazil then took a 2-0 lead through an Elano goal, but North Korea grabbed a late consolation goal to bring the score to 2-1 - scoring their first ever World Cup goal.

Gilberto Silva was largely anonymous for the game - in the words of the English commentator, “Gilberto just keeps Brazil ticking over…”. However, he was largely to blame for the goal conceded; he failed to cut out the run from the North Korean scorer as he moved towards the Brazilian goal.

Aside from that, he was largely untroubled. Much bigger tests for Brazil and Gilberto will follow very soon.

From: Goal.com

Gilberto has been talking to Sky Sports about whether Fabregas should stay at Arsenal:

I think [that he should stay].

I hope he stays. He is a big person and must ask himself and think very carefully if he has to go or not.

But of course the final decision [is something] he has to do. In case this situation happens, it will be a big blow for Arsenal.

But let’s wait and see.

Gilberto Silva has spoken.

From this article at Times Live, Gilberto Silva has been talking about the criticism levelled at him before he’s even taken to the pitch for the world cup in South Africa.

Tomorrow is Brazil’s first game against North Korea, and he’ll play in the team. Of the criticism, he said to Times Live,

Gilberto Silva says the criticism doesn’t make him mad: “It actually gives me motivation. The motivation I have now comes from this criticism against me.”

Gilberto Silva’s success with the Brazilian team is unquestionable. Besides winning the 2002 World Cup, he also helped Brazil win the 2005 and 2009 Confederations Cups, as well as the 2007 Copa America, when he was the team’s captain.

In the warm-up against Tanzania on Monday he played his 93rd match for Brazil, surpassing all-time great Pele.

But he remains one of the least talked about players in the squad, even when the team is missing several stars, as it is now.

Gilberto Silva complains that many fans and parts of the local media usually categorize him as “old” instead of “experienced,” something he doesn’t see done for many other top international players.

“When they talk about (Sebastian) Veron, they say how much his experience will help Argentina,” Gilberto Silva said. “That’s not the case for me.”

Having gone through glory in 2002 and disappointment in 2006, Gilberto Silva feels he can help Brazil’s newcomers. Coach Dunga left many stars out of the squad and picked several lesser-known players who have shown their full commitment to the national team.

“I have no doubt that my experience in these past World Cups will help,” Gilberto Silva said. “I already know how it is and I can pass what I have learned to the other players. The motivation I have for this competition is the same. It’s like I’m playing in my first World Cup.”

Gilberto Silva started every match when Brazil won the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, with performances that brought a contract with Arsenal and established him as one of the top defensive midfielders in the world.

He left Arsenal in 2008, unhappy because coach Arsene Wenger didn’t appoint him permanent captain after striker Thierry Henry left for Barcelona.

Dunga asked Gilberto Silva to be Brazil’s captain ahead of the 2010 World Cup, but the midfielder didn’t think it would be a fair on former leader Lucio. Gilberto Silva was only appointed captain at the 2007 Copa America because Lucio didn’t play.

“I had gone through a difficult experience myself with Arsenal, and I told that to Dunga,” Gilberto Silva said. “Lucio is the captain.” The elegant midfielder is not known for his scoring ability and says he doesn’t try to move forward too much to keep from “getting in the strikers’ way.”

But he wouldn’t mind finding the net at the World Cup, especially after surpassing Pele’s mark with the national team.

“Unfortunately, I don’t play in the same position that Pele used to play,” Gilberto Silva said. “But maybe I’ll have a chance to score one of those nice goals he used to score all the time. Who knows?”