MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula da Silva “football diplomacy” distends the G8 summit

The yellow jersey signed by the Brazilian national team that defeated the US in the Confederations’ Final Cup.

United States President Barack Obama and Brazilian President Lula da Silva took time out from their overloaded Thursday agendas to talk about the United States' defeat to Brazil in last month's Confederations Cup Final played in South Africa.

''We'll never let your players overturn a 2-0 lead again,'' Obama quipped after receiving a Brazilian national football team yellow jersey, with the number 5 and signed by the whole team, including star Kaka, at the start of their morning meeting at the G-8 summit in Italy.

During their banter, which reporters partly heard through a translator, Lula da Silva spoke animatedly of the June 28 match between the US and Brazilian national teams in the Confederations Cup series. The game was a crushing loss for the underdog US team, who led at the midway point, 2-0, only to lose 3-2.

Lula da Silva repeatedly said, “Yes we can,” which was Obama's campaign catchphrase and apparently what the Brazilian president had in mind while his team trailed. Obama smiled gamely; if he felt Lula da Silva was rubbing it in a bit, he didn't let on.

“Hey, look at this,” Obama said of the jersey, signed by the Brazilian team's players. “Beautiful. All right, wonderful. I like that.”

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs later said Obama ended his 30-minute session with Lula da Silva by patting the Brazilian's back and vowing “we will not lose a two-point lead again”.

Obama and Lula da Silva's meeting, either their fifth or sixth according to Gibbs, was a last minute add to the US President schedule after President Hu of China had to leave the summit to tend to protests in Western China.

Brazil was invited to the G8 meetings as part of the G8 plus G5, a group that includes South Africa, Brazil, India, China and Mexico. Lula da Silva also gave his G5 counterparts a Brazilian national team jersey.