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In '82 Brazil showed that you can't win the World Cup without a solid defense.

Brazil was a very good experience. I learned a lot about how to play football, both technical and physical. There would be a hundred kids of all ages, training and doing classes together.

This was an important part of my life. But it was also sad that we didn't play there, cause we had such alot of fans that were waiting for us and Brazilians are great people. It's now my second home.

I was playing the best football of my career at the time, finishing top scorer in Italy three year's running. There were other good players around but I think I was the best at that time.

The match against Brazil was football at its best. Both sides had opportunities to win the game.

The team which I led to the 1992 European Championship Finals is the only one in the history of the entire competition to have won every single one of its qualifying matches.

Consequently, I won just about everything I set out to win, everything bar the World Cup, of course. But even now, I don't regret that, because I was part of a team which twice reached the semi-finals.

Nobody has done more for me than my parents, who devoted untold amounts of time and money that allowed me to play the game I love. It's no exaggeration to say I never would have gotten anywhere near a World Cup, an Olympics, or even the U.S. national team without them. I have never forgotten that, and I never will.

So when I was very young, I longed for Brazil.

Four years ago maybe we thought we were inferior to Brazil, subconsciously we didn't see ourselves beating them. Now we believe in ourselves, we can be on the pitch with any team in the world and think we can win.