FRANCE 98 – Nigeria-Paraguay – J. Cardoso: “We can beat France”
Nigeria-Paraguay – J. Cardoso: “We can beat France” 25.06.98 01h34 CET Hugo BRIZUELA (17):
“It was quite a difficult match, but we won it and we qualified; that’s all that matters. I am proud for my people. At the final whistle, I felt great satisfaction and immediately thought of my family who are supporting me from so far away. The second round game against FRANCE will be very tough because they’ll be playing at home but I think that we’ll still be able to win.”
Jose CARDOZO (9):
“Playing FRANCE in the second round will be difficult, like all the games we’ve already played. We don’t think about our opponents, we only think about ourselves. If we go on playing that way, we can beat FRANCE; we have to keep on working.”
Miguel Angel BENITEZ (15):
“This day will stay in my mind forever. On the one hand, we gave our countrymen something to be proud of. And on the other, this second goal is a kind of present that I give to my mother, who, in PARAGUAY, is celebrating today her 54th birthday today! I don’t think anyone can say that NIGERIA performed badly; we really deserve this victory. When we went onto the pitch, we knew we were going to give it our all, to offer a little hope to our people who are suffering so deeply.”
Carlos GAMARRA (4):
“I am happy; we were not the favourites at the beginning and we ended up qualifying in this ‘Death Group’. It is true that we don’t stand out as much as other teams do, but we know how to play together as a team. This gave us the necessary resources to overcome the fear we experienced when NIGERIA equalised. Our victory will have a strong effect in PARAGUAY and it’ll help develop the game of football. We were hurt to hear our forwards being criticised. But we have just proven how good they are and we will try to use them well against FRANCE.”
Celso AYALA (5) :
“The game against FRANCE will be difficult because they’re playing at home. But we can surprise them. For now, I’m just happy to be able to take part in the World Cup and to have played a good match against NIGERIA. Today we suffered during the first half because we positioned ourselves badly. In the second half, however, we were able to attack deeper and score the goals at the right time.”
