U-17 giants knocked out in semis

The tournament's two most impressive teams, Brazil and Germany, who had netted a total of 30 goals between them, will be playing for third place after being knocked out of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in the semi-finals.

Brazil were not at the races in Guadalajara, falling 3-0 to Uruguay, while the German juggernaut came off the road at last in Torreon, losing 3-2 to hosts Mexico having led 2-1 on the hour.

16 year-old Julio Gomez was the hero of the day, opening the scoring in the third minute with a well-placed header and bandaged up like Mr. Bump, scoring the winner from a bicycle kick in the final minute.



FINAL: Sun 10/07/11 Mexico City, Midnight GMT (18h local time)
MEXICO v URUGUAY
3rd Place Play-Off: Sun 10/07/11 Mexico City 21h GMT (15h local time), Brazil v Germany

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Brazil & Germany reach U-17 semis

FIFA U-17 WORLD CUP, MEXICO

Quarter Finals
Brazil 3:2 Japan
Germany 3:2 England
Mexico 2:1 France
Uruguay 2:0 Uzbekistan

Old masters Brazil and Germany qualified for the last four of the Under-17 World Cup but survived late scares from Japan and England in their quarter finals.

Although the Brazilians were playing rather narrow and directly, their goals were classy affairs, from Leo's flicked header in the 16th, Ademilson's rifle into the corner in the 48th and Adryan's exquisite hit on the hour mark when he Cruyff-turned the full-back and roofed the winner.

Japan kept working their short passing game but produced nothing beyond Hideki Ishige hitting the crossbar in the first half. 0-3 down, Shoya Nakajima finally finished off a move 13 minutes from time to reduce the arrears and then Fumiya Hayakawa's header two minutes from time made for a nervous end for the selecao, who now face fellow South Americans Uruguay on Thursday for a place in the final.



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A brace by Samed Yesil and a goal by Kaan Ayhan gave Germany a similar three-goal cushion after 53 minutes, but the tournament's most outstanding team, who had only conceded one goal previously, allowed England to mount a spirited fightback.

Sammy Magri's penalty in the 67th minute gave England hope, and substitutes Jack Dunn and Nathan Redmond then enlivened the Three Lions' attack. A lazy backheel from Marvin Duksch in the 83rd let a marauding Redmond in on goal and the perfectly named Hallam Hope poked into an empty net as the German defence was for once sliced apart.

With the locals in Morelia clearly backing the red shirts, England poured forward but a volley of efforts whistled wide of the woodwork. The Germans deserved their win for their superior teamwork and ability to hit England on the counter, and have now scored 18 in five games, but having being pushed onto the back foot for the final third of the match, for the first time in the competition the Mannschaft looked human.




Semi-finals (Thu): Uruguay v Brazil, Germany v Mexico

COPA AMERICA 2011

Group B
Brazil 0:0 Venezuela
Paraguay 0:0 Ecuador
Group C
Uruguay 1:1 Peru
Chile 2:1 Mexico

Weds (Group A) - Argentina v Colombia

(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

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Marta dazzles again; Uzbek U-17 dream over

Marta, the Leo Messi of the women's game, lit up the World Cup with a stunning brace as Brazil swatted Norway aside 3-0.

After an unconvincing 1-0 opening win against Australia, the Brazilians, losing finalists in the last World Cup and Olympics, were on fire in Wolfsburg today. Marta, FIFA Women's Player of the Year for the past five years, started the scoring in the 22nd minute with a quick shuffle and shot and turned supplier a minute after half-time, laying off the ball to her colleague Rosana after another mesmerizing run at the defence.

25 year-old Marta, author of a memorable strike in the semi-final of the Beijing Olympics, scored her second and Brazil's third two minutes later, her dribbling skills again to the fore.

The Norwegians can still qualify for the quarter-finals in their winner-takes-all clash with Australia on Wednesday.



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Uzbekistan's unlikely challenge in the FIFA U-17 World Cup came to an end as they were eliminated 2-0 by Uruguay in Monterrey. The South Americans will meet the winners of tonight's Brazil v Japan match on Thursday.

- Sean O'Conor

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