We always had faith, says Gilberto
June 28, 2009
By Mitch Phillips
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Brazil midfielder Gilberto Silva said his side had kept faith in their ability and always believed they would come back to beat the United States in Sunday’s Confederations Cup final.
The five-times world champions trailed 2-0 at halftime to the hard-running Americans after goals by Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan.
Luis Fabiano pulled one back at the start of the second half and leveled after 74 minutes before captain Lucio headed the winner six minutes from time.
“When we went in at halftime we only heard about was how we were going to come back and we got that at first goal at an important time,” he told reporters.
“It was great that we managed it. It was very hard and we had to fight for it.
“Our first goal was crucial to keep our belief. We scored early enough so that we knew we had plenty of time maybe to go to extra time. Then we got the second one. After that kept the ball, we moved them from side to side, we kept our patience and we got the third.”
Gilberto said his side had not been surprised by the quality of the Americans, who looked down and out in the qualifying stages but reached the final after ending Spain’s 35-match unbeaten run in the semi-finals.
“We didn’t expect to concede two goals or concede them in the way we did but we expected a very hard game,” he said.
“We watched the game against Spain and it was basically the same. They work very hard and defend very determinedly.”
Gilberto said the tournament was important to the team who have now won it three times.
“It’s not easy to get to a final and we know how hard we had to work to do that,” he said. “We also knew what we had to do in this game and winning for the national team still feels the same as the first time.”
