After scoring back-to-back hat-tricks in the knockout stages of the FIFA under-17 World Cup, England's Rhian Brewster was undoubtedly pleased with his form but gave due credit to his team as well.
"I am very happy with my performance, this is certainly among my best performances," said Brewster after the 3-1 semi-final victory against Brazil at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan stadium here on Thursday. "But it wasn't me alone who won the match for the team, my teammates were equally important in this victory."
Brewster's triple broke the hearts of Kolkata fans, who came in large number to support the South American side. England will play Spain in the Final on Saturday, while Brazil will lock horns with Mali to secure the third place on the same day.
Scoring the first goal of the night, which came in the 10th minute, the liverpool academy striker said the first goal helped them relax in such a big game.
"Of course it was very important to get the lead today as it took the pressure off us. We were playing a big team like Brazil, so it was important to score the first goal and get the upper hand in the game," said Brewster, who dedicated the goal to his parents and Jonathan Panzo, who also celebrated his birthday with the win.
England's captain Joel latibeaudiere informed that the confidence in the dressing room is very high after defeating Brazil and are ready for the Final irrespective of their opponents.
"Confidence is very high after winning such a big game. It's a great feeling, an unbelievable feeling to be in the Final. It shows that English football has grown a lot. It doesn't matter who we face next; at the moment we are all bumped up to play the Final," said the skipper.
The Manchester City academy centre-back said the senior England team players always offer help to the juniors whenever asked for.
"The senior players help us all the time. They always encourage us and give us suggestion on how to deal with pressure in big games," said latibeaudiere.
Brazil, on the other hand, are still coming to terms with the dream-crushing loss to England as Samba midfielder Alan couldn't hide his sadness but vows to remain focused for the next game.
"It was a good competition for us but I would have preferred it to be perfect. We are sad as our dream was to win the World Cup," said Alan, who is set to join Real Madrid's second team. "But we fought hard and gave our best. We reached our limit to win the game that's why we are sad to lose after giving it all but we must be focused for the third-place game."
Brazil's joint top scorer Paulinho explained they prepared well for the game but blamed themselves for not taking the chances they had.
"We had our match strategy, we practiced a lot keeping that in mind," he said. "But we made some mistakes today and most in front of the goals but as the saying goes 'those who don't score, are the one who concedes'. And that's what we did today. But we need to get our heads up and give our best for the third-place game."
Paulinho was also disappointed with the fact that they couldn't return the love they got in India with a trophy.
"I am glad about the support we got here, they supported throughout the competition. We got more than we expected. I am sad that we can't give them the Cup in return," said the Vasco da Gama striker.
Brazil's joint top-scorer lincoln, along with Paulinho with three goals each, didn't blame the last minute venue change for the loss as he felt England were the deserved winners.
"We were prepared for every situation, although it was a last minute decision, it wasn't a problem for us. The fact is England were the better team today and that's why they won," said the 16-year-old Flamengo striker.