Brazil's Julio Cesar enjoying new chance

Julio Cesar’s career went spiraling down after a mistake led to Brazil’s elimination from the 2010 World Cup. The even thought about quitting football because of the blunder that disappointed an entire nation.

But three years later, he is back with the national team, rejoicing about his chance to return to the big stage and try to help Brazil win the title that slipped away in part because of him. ‘I said before the Confederations Cup began that this competition would be very important to me individually,’ Julio Cesar said. ‘I know that this is an opportunity that can change a lot of things for me. I want to do well.’

The 33-year-old goalkeeper said he was inspired by a movie and the resiliency of Arjen Robben to keep believing that he could bounce back and get his career on the right track again. ‘I used the movie ‘Rocky’ as an example,’ he said. ‘And I look at what happened to Robben, who finally won the Champions League after everything that had happened to him before. It shows that it can be done.’ ‘The day after the match, for a moment I thought about stopping playing,’ he said. ‘I kept thinking, ‘Why did this happen? Why were we eliminated?’