U20 WC Montreal: Disputed Call Tarnishes Chilean’s Trip To The Semis
By David Blye
Montreal — Going into Sunday’s quarter-final between Nigeria and Chile, neither side had conceded a goal. For another 90 minutes, neither side could break down its opponents.
Something had to give.
Six minutes into the first extra period forward Jaime Grondona earned a disputed goal to give the Chileans the lead. They would never look back earning a hard fought 4-0 victory.
“We certainly are happy but we had to fight quite a bit,” said Chilean head coach Jose Sulantay.
“In the second half, the changes that we made helped us to be pretty decisive and reduce the Nigerians’ ability. “We were very tired (after 90 minutes) but we managed to score the first goal and that managed to change things,” he added.
Early on both sides defended well, with chances few and far between. Forty three minutes on, Nigerian striker Ezekiel Bala fired a strong effort off a Chukwuma Akabueze cross. The shot beat Chilean keep Cristopher Toselli but not the crossbar. Bala’s strike was the closest either side came to score in the first half, which ended scoreless.
The second half continued the trend of strong defending and goalkeeping. In the fifty-sixth minute, Nigerian keeper Ikechukwu Ezemwa made a sprawling save to deny Mauricio Isla. Twenty minutes later Ezemwa again stopped Isla, deflecting the blast out for touch. Finally right before the whistle, Toselli saved a shot from forward Brown Ideye to force extra time.
Toselli was quick to credit the play of his teammates.
“Most of all, I have good defensive players and we have a good defence,” Toselli said.
In the first extra time period, Chile pressed forward hard. Six minutes in, Grondona managed to narrowly beat the Nigerian off-side trap and head the ball in past Ezemwa. Nigerian head coach Ladan Bosso was disappointed with the call, feeling his team had been discriminated against and was particularly upset considering Sunday was chosen to highlight FIFA’s “Show a red card to racism” program.
“It is one thing to have the plan to kick out racism but the next step is implementation,” Bosso said. “For what happened today on the pitch, we believe that FIFA has a long way to go to fight racism because we believe purely it was racism.”
From there, the floodgates opened. Eight minutes into the second extra time period, Nigerian defender Suraj Sodiq took Isla down in the area.
Sodiq was sent off, while Isla made no mistake on the penalty to put his side up 2-0. Soon after, Isla doubled his tally. After receiving a long ball on a counterattack, he beat the last man slotted the ball past Ezemwa. Striker Mathias Vidangossy concluded the rout with a goal in the match’s dying minutes.
With the win Chile advanced to the semi-finals, where it will meet the reigning FIFA U-20 World Cup holders from Argentina. While Sulantay respects his team’s opponents, he didn’t sell his side short.
“Argentina clearly are very strong,” Sulantay said. “They’re a five time champion in this tournament and the reigning champions. However we’ve tied with Argentina, we’ve lost and we’ve beat them before.”
The semi-final goes July 19, from the National Soccer Stadium in Toronto.
U20 WC Montreal: Mexico Sends Congo Packing
By David Blye
Looking at the scoresheet, it may have seemed that Mexico’s 3-0 win over Congo was a one-sided affair. While Congo was the losing side, the scoreboard did not reflect the play.
After conceding an early penalty and being reduced to 10 men, the valiant Congolese refused to give up against the more talented Mexicanos. Congo’s head coach Eddie Hudanski expressed satisfaction with his squad, in spite of its elimination.
“I’m very proud of our team,” Hudanski said.
“Having been with the team since 2005, it’s quite a distance we’ve traveled. In 2005, some of these players had never before been in a competition and now they’ve seen the real face of football.”
Early on Mexico dominated in possession and chances, highlighted by a strike from midfielder Cesar Villaluz that was only stopped by a brilliant save from Congolese goalkeeper Destin Onka.
But Onka’s theatrics could only take them so far. In the 22nd minute, Mexican defender Efrain Juarez was brought down in the danger area. Star striker (a Barcelona asset) Giovanni dos Santos made no mistake on the penalty kick. The Mexicans went up 1-0.
After the opening goal, however, Mexico seemed content to hang back and sit on its lead.
The tactic nearly cost the Mexicans. Congo striker, Fabrice Nguessi, managed a few strong chances on goal that were only stopped by the antics of keeper Alfonso Blanco. Mexico narrowly escaped the first half with the one goal lead.
Soon after the restart, Congo forward Franchel Ibara received his second yellow card, reducing his side to 10 men. Instead of playing a more defensive strategy, Hudanski opted to throw caution to the wind, ordering his side to continue pushing forward and pressed the issue by bringing in a full compliment of strikers to flesh out his reduced lineup.
“They played with 10 just like I had asked them to at the half, when they still had 11,” Hudanski said. “It freed them up and allowed them to play football as they should.”
Unfortunately, despite numerous chances Congo was never able to earn an equalizer and Mexico made them pay. In the 85th minute, the Latin American side outran its undermanned African counterparts on a counterattack. Midfielder Omar Esparaza went unmarked on the run and easy slotted a Villaluz through ball into the back of the net. Substitute Pablo Barrera would add an insurance marker in extra time, but then it was already over.
For his part, Mexican head coach Jesus Ramirez praised both his players and their opponents.
“We certainly played against an excellent team,” Ramirez said. “But, my team did come out strong in the end. We were certainly very happy with the three goals and the result. Our strength is in our team. We do have some strong individuals but it’s our team play that makes us stronger.”
The win sends Mexico on to the quarter-finals where it will challenge the 2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup winners from Argentina. While the match puts two of the top squads in the field, Ramirez is looking forward to the encounter.
“We’ll play [Argentina] with the same intensity as we have all the other teams,” Ramirez said. “Of course our goal is to advance, to move forward and that’s what we’ll do.”
Mexico will challenge the Argentineans on July 15, from Frank Clair Stadium, in Ottawa.
U20 WC: Bruins Add History Of Success To American Squad
By David Blye
It isn’t difficult to argue that the University of California at Los Angeles possesses one the top athletic programs in the United States.
Winners of 100 NCAA championships, the Bruins boast a program that has produced the famous 10 men’s basketball titles in 12 years and such sports icons as Jackie Robinson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Troy Aikman.
But quietly going under the radar at the school of champions is the men’s soccer program.
Producers of team USA mainstays Cobi Jones and Brad Friedel and winners of four national championships, the soccer Bruins just missed out on giving the university title number 100 when they fell 2-1 to University of California at Santa Barbara this past December.
Rather than holding the loss against them, Coach Thomas Rongen recognized the ability in the squad, naming goalkeeper Brian Perk and midfielders Tony Beltran and Sal Zizzo to the American squad for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup.
The three (who are joined by fellow student-athletes from Indiana, Harvard, Wake Forest and Southern Methodist) form the largest segment of any one outside organization on the team.
“I think it’s a great experience because I know these two guys really well,” Perk said of playing with Zizzo and Beltran.
“When you’re coming into a U-20 camp, you look to who you have similarities to. It makes it a lot easier to make the transition from college to the national team because you’ve guys that you’ve played with.”
“[UCLA] is a great institution,” Beltran said. “Almost everyone across the world knows about it and respects it. It’s a boost to your morale and your confidence to know that you come from a university with that kind of reputation.
While Team USA hasn’t progressed past the quarter finals at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup since 1989, Beltran, Perk and Zizzo bring their Bruin tradition to the team. They hope that this winning history continues to rub off on their teammates as they proceed into the knockout stage.
“When you come to an environment like this, it’s easy to make the transition,” Beltran said. “We play at the highest level at UCLA as we do [in the FIFA Under-20 World Cup] as well.”
“When you see how well [Zizzo] and [Beltran] are playing, you see can that ‘you play at UCLA’; you’re ready for this level,” Perk added.
While understandably upset with losing their shot at a national championship, the guys see this tournament as a chance for redemption, only this time on the world’s biggest stage.
“I don’t want to let another opportunity like that pass us up,” Zizzo said. “We had a chance of winning the [100th NCAA title] but we fell to UCSB.”
Team USA continues its tournament tonight when it takes on Uruguay at the National Soccer Stadium in Toronto (7:45 pm CBC).
Anchored by the strong play of its UCLA Bruins, the men in red, white, and blue will look to the performance of their teammates at the NCAA tournament and hope to do them one better with a win in the 2007 FIFA Under-20 World Cup.
U20 WC Montreal: Gambia Earns Big W At The Big O
By David Blye
Montreal — Lightning doesn’t usually strike twice in the same spot. After Poland earned a shocking win over Brazil in the opening match of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, Montreal was the last place anyone expected to be the scene of another.
But Sunday night, Gambia showed the world how wide open this tournament really is.
In spite of being reduced to 10 men early in the second half and facing a heavily pro-Portugal crowd, Gambia held on for the massive upset, defeating a heavily favoured Portugal side by a score of 2-1. Gambian head coach Peter Johnson was elated with his team’s historic win.
“Thanks be to God,” Johnson said. “Knowing the experience that the Portguese team has, we came in with one tactic but unfortunately, we allowed an early goal. But the boys put up a good fight and made sure we carried the three points.”
At the outset, it didn’t look as if the Olympic Stadium was going to be the scene of another upset. The Portuguese began the game pressing forward, keeping the ball in the Gambian third and winning numerous corners and free kicks. Twenty minutes on, their hard work was rewarded when defender Pedro Correia’s cross met the head of midfielder Feliciano Condesso who slotted the ball past keeper Joseph Gomez.
Portugal continued to apply the pressure in the later stages of the half, but could not double its tally despite a number of set pieces.
This would prove costly as in the 44th minute Gambia was awarded a penalty after a foul in the area. Up stepped forward Ousman Jallow who made no mistake from 12 yards out leveling the score 1-1 at half time.
Soon after the restart, both sides would suffer a setback. Fifty eight minutes on, Gambia defender Ken Jammeh delivered a hard challenge on Portuguese full back Andre Marques. The tackle would knock Marques out of the game injured while Jammeh was set off for the action.
While Gambia was reduced to 10 men, it was Portugal who seemed more unsettled by the play. In the ensuing action, it was Gambia who pressed forward and made the most of its opportunities. In the 68th minute, Portuguese goalkeeper Rui Patricio was deemed to have batted a free kick from Abdoulie Mansally into his own net. The own goal put Gambia up 2-1. A late injury to Portuguese captain Bruno Gama essentially ended any chance for a comeback.
Portuguese head coach Jose Couceiro felt that the penalty was a turning point as his team was unable to recover after the break, eventually leading to the own goal.
“Conceding the penalty kick right before the end of the first was not a good time to allow that goal,” Couceiro said. “We came back in the second half and continued to control play but due to a defensive error, we took the second goal. That’s when the team lost its confidence.”
For his part, Johnson was quick to point out the importance of the win for Gambian society.
“I think this was one of the greatest wins for Gambian soccer because it will unite the whole country,” Johnson said. “We were unfortunate in the [2005 FIFA Under-17 World Cup] to not go beyond the group stage and this time around, we have.”
Sunday’s result moved to Gambia second in Group C while Portugal ended in third. Both teams are now on to the second round with Gambia meeting Austria on July 11 and Portugal taking on Chile on July 12. Both games will be played at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.
