Gilberto: Could he win the World Cup twice?
September 7, 2009
Giuseppe Meazza, after whom the stadium generally known as the San Siro is named, and Giovanni Ferrari were the first to do it. They appeared for the winning side in two World Cup finals (for Italy in 1934 and 1938). Since then, if my research is reliable, only nine men have equalled the feat, all Brazilians: Gilmar, Nilton and Djalma Santos, Zito, Didi, Vava, Mário Zagalo and Garrincha (1958 and 1962), Pelé (1958 and 1970) and Cafu (1994 and 2002).
Hope can be harboured by Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluca Zambrotta, Andrea Pirlo, Daniele De Rossi and a few others who took part in the win over France in 2006, if, as looks likely, Italy reach South Africa. Thierry Henry, sad to say, cannot join the list even if France qualify; he was an unused substitute against Brazil in 1998. But an old Arsenal colleague could conceivably join the roll of honour, for Gilberto Silva, a veteran of Brazil’s 2002 campaign, is still going strong in a team who will inevitably be ranked among the favourites.
Seven years ago, he was the rock of Luiz Felipe Scolari’s midfield, the solid foundation on which Rivaldo and Ronaldinho could create. Now Gilberto offers Kaká the same reassurance. He will be 33 next month and, as he enters his second season with Panathinaikos, the view that Arsenal have not replaced him lingers.
For them he was the craftiest of holding midfield players, albeit a master of the dark art of tactical fouling in that, unlike Patrick Vieira, he seldom incurred a card. Losing Gilberto and Mathieu Flamini, his intended replacement, was a setback from which Arsenal have still to recover. Alexandre Song, though improving, is not in the same class yet.