Brazilian coach Jorge Barcellos expressed his satisfaction with
the whole squad after their 3-2 win over Australia in the
quarter-final of 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup China in Tianjin on
Sunday.
"I am satisfied with all the players, not only Marta and Elaine,
but also all the players who tried their best on the court," said
Barcello.
"We have a good start to have a quick advantage. When we led
2-0, our players were just relaxed and let Australia to even the
match. Fortunately, we adjusted ourselves quickly and finally won
the die-or-not match."
"Australia is a strong team. They quickly switched between
offense and defense, and were strong-minded," said Barcellos.
"Asian teams are respectful. Three of all four Asian teams
qualified from the group stage. Though they were all eliminated,
they were strong teams."
"We are going to face the United States in the semi-final. That
is also a strong team, and the match will be tough," said Barcello.
"Due to the typhoon, we will have one day rest less that they do.
24 hours are important to players. But I don't think it will be a
problem for us."
Australian coach Tom Sermanni sent his congratulations to Brazil
team: "Both teams were close in the match, but they are better. We
just gave them a scare. We are just a little bit unlucky. They have
outstanding player like Marta and Cristiane and our players were
not concentrating in the whole 90 minutes."
"But we have younger players. They will prepare for next World
Cup," said Sermanni.
(Xinhua News Agency September 24, 2007)