Rivaldo delighted to get a game at last

Brazil's Rivaldo was delighted just to get a game after scoring in the 1-1 draw away to Peru in Sunday's South American World Cup qualifier.

Rivaldo, who has been condemned to the reserves at his Italian club AC Milan, had not played a competitive game since his last outing for Brazil.

"I'm very happy to have played, my last game was against Jamaica on October 12," he told Brazilian television from Lima. "I'm ready for the next game on Wednesday."

"Everyone thinks it's easy to come here and play Peru but that's not the case. We had a lot of chances in the first half and if we had scored maybe it would have been different."

Rivaldo gave Brazil a 21st minute lead with a penalty -- his first international goal since the World Cup quarter-final win over England last year -- and the world champions squandered several chances to increase their lead before halftime.

They eventually had to settle for a draw after Nolberto Solano headed a second-half equaliser.

Brazil headed straight from the Universitario stadium to Lima airport, where they were due to catch a charter flight back home to Curitiba, where they face Uruguay on Wednesday.

"We created more chances," said Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira. "We could have scored three in the first half. But we needed to keep possession more in midfield."

"Peru had two chances, we had six. They caused us problems with their high crosses. We gave away a lot of passes but we finished the game in their half."

Midfielder Gilberto Silva, who received the first booking of his international career, had no complaints.

"It was what we expected," he said of the game. "The Peruvians were very excited about this game. They tried very hard and made life difficult.

"It was a good game. We can't complain."