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.



* * *

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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