Speaking after his side held on for a remarkable win — their fifth at the global showpiece — Waldrum said the Falcons’ rapid response after conceding late in the first half inspired confidence in the former African champions.
“I think two things happened, “Waldrum began. “One is, after giving up the first goal before halftime, we were able to respond and get it back. I think that was huge from a confidence standpoint. We tried to sort out a little bit of a problem that Van Egmont was causing for us in midfield, finding a lot of pockets of space.
“And then it was just a matter of telling the players, ‘you know, go for it. Don’t be afraid to go out.’ I think the changes that we made worked out, the subs that we put in changed the game as well.
“I’m so proud of these players because so many people didn’t believe, so many didn’t believe in me, didn’t believe in the team. And the one thing that we’ve done is we’ve talked about believing in each other, and the strength of our success has got to be in the unity of the team.”
Waldrum added, ”And to think that we’ve come in here and gotten two results against two top, top teams in the world says a lot, not only our ability but just the heart and the competitive desire that the team has.
