Had you offered Thiago Silva a point pre-game, he’d have instantly accepted. So, too, he says, would the entire Fluminense FC squad.
They got that against Borussia Dortmund – UEFA Champions League finalists only last year – in their FIFA Club World Cup™ curtain-raiser at Metlife Stadium. Given how the game played out, however, the men in Tricolor shirts are not celebrating a surprise result but rueing what could have been. Renato Gaucho’s side, indeed, dominated their illustrious opponents and only the heroics of Gregor Kobel denied them victory.
“I’m pleased with our performance,” the former Brazil captain told FIFA. “Given the opportunities, the chances we created, I think we deserved a better result.
“When you stop and think about before the game, if you’d have offered us a draw, I think all of us would have signed for a 0-0 and a point. But given the way we played, all we lacked was a goal to complete our performance. I’m happy with the team, with my own performance individually.
“Obviously we always go to win, we always play to win, but we had great courage to go toe to toe with Dortmund. If there had to be a winner today, I think it would have been Fluminense given everything we created throughout the game.
“I’m proud of our team. We have to be pleased with our performance. That’s football. Even when you create more, you don’t always win. But overall, I’m super happy with the performance.”
The consensus was that Fabio was in for an extremely busy afternoon in New York New Jersey. The reality is that he was a bystander for much of it while his counterpart Kobel was incessantly active.
“I think it was a really competitive game,” said the 44-year-old goalkeeper. “Both teams imposed their game. It was even, but Fluminense had the better chances. Unfortunately their goalkeeper had a great game, managed to thwart our attack scoring and coming away with the victory.
“I think we have to appreciate the spectacle, the competition. We respect Dortmund, they’re a great club in Europe just like Fluminense are in South America. We always try our best to honour Fluminnese’s colours. We hope to play better and be more focused in our next game so that we can get our first win.”
While Kobel was outstanding, another player was superior. Jhon Arias terrorised Dortmund throughout and walked away with the Michelob Ultra Superior Player of the Match award.
“It was a difficult game,” said the Colombia winger. “We created a lot of chances, had lots of opportunities to break the deadlock. Unfortunately we lacked finesse when it came to finishing.
“It’s important to begin a competition like this by going out for three points. We got one and that’s important. Borussia Dortmund are heavyweights in Europe. Last year they were Champions League runners-up. They’re a team we have great respect for, but we also knew we had the tools to win.
“We came away with a draw, which is good. Now we have to switch our focus to the next game. We need to get three points to make today’s point worthwhile.”
