U-17 SOCCER WORLD CUP: Brazil were dealt a cruel blow at their home away from home in Guadalajara, losing out 3-0 to South American rivals Uruguay.

Drama, history mark wild last four


Brazil were dealt a cruel blow at their home away from home in Guadalajara, losing out 3-0 to South American rivals Uruguay. All three goals resulted from the lightning-quick counter-attack of the Celeste, who now march on to the final at the vaunted Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.

They will meet Mexico in the tournament's ultimate match after a gutsy performance from the hosts, and Julio Gomez in particular, stopped the German juggernaut in its tracks. The Pachuca man scored two goals, one coming after having his head smashed to a bloody pulp, an injury requiring seven stitches.
Results

Uruguay 3-0 Brazil

Germany 2-3 Mexico

Goal of the day

Julio Gomez 90’, Germany-Mexico

The Pachuca defender had already done enough to be considered Mexico’s hero on the night. By the time the 90th minute rolled around, he had scored one, created a second and had to leave the pitch on a stretcher with blood spilling from his head. Just as it looked like the Mexicans would have to finish the game a man down – coach Raul Gutierrez having made all of his subs – the brave warrior ran back down the tunnel, head wrapped in a huge bandage, changed his shirt and re-entered the fray to a roar from the crowd. Amazingly, he had them shouting again in the last minute of regular time when his dazzling overhead kick won the game and put Mexico in the final.

Memorable moments


Yellow and blue make red

They say that familiarity breeds contempt. Neighbours Brazil and Uruguay have met 70 times on the world’s biggest football stages at senior level, including the notorious Maracanazo in 1950. This history of rancor and simmering tempers can’t help but inform proceedings whenever the two meet, whatever the age level. A full seven yellow cards were brandished when the two crossed swords in their U-17 semi-final in Guadalajara, and the Russian referee frequently had to separate irate and puffed-out players in a game where no ball went uncontested and no challenge was anything less than full-blooded. Uruguayan defender Gaston Silva’s nerves were wound so tight that he even snapped the corner flag in two early in the second half.
Mexico go green

The fans in Torreon caught a glimpse of their hometown heroes in the flesh for the first time today. Home to club side Santos Laguna, the brand-new Estadio Torreon – smack in the middle Mexico’s barren northern desert – is a vision in green. All 30,000 seats in the ground, which is home to green-and-white striped Santos Laguna, matched the shirts of the El Tri players, and the coincidental colour-coordination and passionate support helped save the day. Mexico won the thriller of these finals in dramatic style with their first-ever win at any level against Germany.
Uruguayan bench providers

Substitutes have had their say for Uruguay on their historic run to the U-17 World Cup final. Guillermo Mendez drove into the box just four minutes after coming on with a powerful and steely run today against Brazil. When the ball was half-tackled away, his fellow super-sub Juan San Martin (who came on at the half) slammed a vicious half-volley with his right foot into the side netting. Mendez added a third goal five minutes into stoppage time. In all, substitutes have scored three of Uruguay’s 11 goals, 27 per cent.

The stat

3 – The number of penalty-kicks Uruguay have taken in Mexico. Normal Celeste spot-kick man Guillermo Mendez, who missed one and scored one so far, started on the bench today, so Elbio Alvarez did the honours. The Penarol man fired straight up the middle to score the 105th penalty-kick in the history of tournament. The game ended 3-0 for Uruguay, only the second time Brazil have been beaten by such a lopsided scoreline in a U-17 finals.
Up next

The final, 10 July, Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

Uruguay-Mexico

Third-place match

Brazil-Germany

Gomez the hero for mighty Mexico

http://www.fifa.com/


Mexico looked dead and buried in their semi-final against Germany, down 2-1 in the 76th minute. But Julio Gomez – who had opened the scoring – inspired a second goal, went off on a stretcher with blood pouring from his head and then scored the winner in the 3-2 classic semi-final that sends El Tri through to the ultimate match at the Estadio Azteca on 10 July. Germany, for their part, will have only the consolation of taking on Brazil in the match for third place.

The fans didn’t have to wait long to jump up out of their seats as their beloved home side took the lead after only three minutes. A curling cross from the left side from Jorge Caballero picked out Gomez, who nodded an oddly bouncing header inside the near post after eluding his marker’s attentions. The Torreon crowd – seeing their home team for the first time at these finals – must have thought they would be treated to a rout.

Germany had other ideas, however. While the Mexicans went back up in search of another goal, they were soon given a taste of the Europeans’ trademark ruthless efficiency. A mistake by captain Carlos Briseno allowed the wily Samed Yesil to get hold of the ball in the attacking third and score his sixth goal of Mexico 2011. His low rolling shot from long-range slipped past the wrong-footed Richard Sanchez and into the back of the net to a gasp from the shocked crowd.

Yesil nearly picked up his second mid-way through the opening period when he dribbled past his man and fired low again from 25 yards with his left foot. The effort slipped just wide of the post this time as the fans began to chew their fingernails.

Both sides had chances to score before the interval. Jorge Espericueta and Marco Bueno were both denied by Oddisseas Vlachodimos at one end and then Germany’s ace in the hole, Yesil, could only hit over with the goal at his mercy. The Mexicans began to pile on the pressure early in the second half. Espericueta went close to putting Mexico back in the lead after only five minutes, but the safe hands of the German keeper denied him.

Short passes were the order of the day for the home side, but they were unable to find the final pass in attack. Noah Korzowski nearly did them a favour in the 58th minute when he tapped just wide of his own goal from a Gomez cross. It took the Europeans only seconds to get it right up the other end. The powerful Emre Can raced past three defenders, burst into the penalty and slotted home while sliding to put the Germans into a 2-1 lead.

The Mexicans did their all to haul themselves back into the game, and they got the leveler in the 76th minute. Espericueta’s corner-kick flew directly into the net as Gomez and a German defender collided on the goal-line. The celebrations in the stadium were tempered by the fact that Gomez had to be stretchered off the pitch with a head injury, requiring stitches. He made his way back onto the field after changing his shirt and having his head wrapped and went on to win the contest with a goal for the ages. His dazzling overhead kick will go down in the legend and lore of Mexican football and the U-17 World Cup both.

The Mexicans now move on to the final of the tournament at the Estadio Azteca on 10 July, where they will meet Uruguay, who beat Brazil 3-0 in the other semi-final.

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U-17 SOCCER WORLD CUP: Mexico U-17 hero Julio Gomez

Everyone dreams of scoring the goal that sends their country through to the final of a FIFA World Cup™. Mexico’s Julio Enrique Gomez is no different, but he could never have foreseen the remarkable manner in which his dream finally became a reality. Indeed, the midfielder scored not one but two goals – the second a stunning overhead kick with a heavily bandaged head – to fire El Tri to a 3-2 win over Germany and a place in the FIFA U-17 World Cup final.


“You always dream of scoring important goals, but this one tops them all,” Gomez told after the match, still dazed from the clash of heads he suffered during Mexico’s equaliser. “Right at the end I said to [teammate] Giovani [Casillas], ‘you hit it, because I can’t with this bandage on’. He told me to go and stand where the ball came to me. When I saw it drop just behind me, I had no choice but to go for the overhead, and luckily it went in,” said the Mexico No8, who later received seven stitches to his head wound.

You always dream of scoring important goals, but this one tops them all. Mexico U-17 hero Julio Gomez

The injury came as Mexico’s Jorge Espericueta sent a corner kick directly into the German net to bring the hosts level at 2-2. “I remember the collision as I went for the ball,” said Gomez. “Suddenly, everything went blank and I couldn’t open my eyes. I was really scared when I saw my shirt covered in blood, but then I started to calm down.”

Despite the advice of Mexico’s medical team, Gomez asked to return to the pitch. “The doctor told me, ‘you have to stop now, you can’t carry on,’ but I knew we didn’t have any substitutions left, and I wasn’t prepared to let the team play with ten men,” the Pachuca player explained. “So I said to him, ‘bandage me up, do whatever you want, but I am going to continue.” The rest, as they say, is history.

A brave comeback

Born in the city of Tampico, Tamaulipas, Gomez is the only player in Raul Gutierrez’s squad to have already played in Mexico’s top flight. He made his debut for Pachuca's Los Tuzos against Santos Laguna on 22 January this year, in the same stadium where he scored his memorable semi-final brace against Germany.

Gomez’s first goal came in the third minute, and perfectly demonstrated what the athletic midfielder is all about. Starting on the right, Gomez moved forward with the play before making a diagonal run into the box and placing a real centre-forward’s header past the German goalkeeper. “It’s part of the job that Raul [Gutierrez] asks me to do,” said Gomez. “When I saw that Jorge [Caballero] was about to send the cross in, I anticipated the German defender’s movement and did my best to get my head on it.”

Gomez seems not the least bit surprised by his side’s brilliant comeback against Germany. “The team felt good,” he said. “We performed as a unit and played our natural game. That said, you should never be too confident. Fortunately, we reacted fantastically well and proved that football matches last the full ninety minutes.”

In front of Gomez and his team-mates lies a final showdown with Uruguay in one of the most historic stadiums in world football. “Just thinking about playing in front of a full Estadio Azteca makes me extremely happy, because it means we’ve managed to reach the final,” added Gomez. “It’s a reward for all our efforts, but we’re not finished yet. We’ve got one more very tough match against an opponent we know well. They beat us 6-2 in the last friendly we played together, so this could be sweet revenge.”

URUGUAY TEAM WORK: 3 - 0 OVER Brazilians

Uruguay may have been leading their semi-final against Brazil, but it was A Seleçãozinha doing all the attacking as the clock ticked down. No 50-50 ball was left unchallenged by the spirited Uruguayans, and when Maximiliano Moreira scampered down the left with only 18 minutes remaining and shrugged off the challenge of Matheus, they suddenly sensed an opportunity to kill the game off.


Latching onto Moreira’s pass, substitute Guillermo Mendez surged into the box and tried to fire off a shot. The ball was deflected, however, running across the face of six-yard box and into the path of fellow sub Juan San Martin, whose first-time cross-shot gave keeper Charles no chance and all but confirmed La Celeste’s place in the final of the FIFA U-17 World Cup Mexico 2011.

That collective determination and opportunism is a hallmark of Fabian Coito’s spirited side, whose run to Sunday’s showpiece match has been founded on teamwork rather than individual brilliance - teamwork encapsulated by the contribution of squad members such as Mendez and San Martin.

“I was on the bench and the boss told me I was going on,” Mendez later said. “I helped set up the second goal and then I scored the third, which obviously I’m very happy about. This team always battles hard and gives everything it’s got. And we do that because we know what this jersey means. Now we’re on the way to the final.”

Striking as a unit

One of the most impressive aspects of Uruguay’s relentless advance to Sunday’s showdown with Mexico at the Azteca is that is has been achieved despite a troublesome knee-injury to their star asset Juan Cruz Mascia. Despite his absence from the front line for their quarter-final against Uzbekistan and the semi with Brazil, Coito’s charges still managed to rack up five goals, conceding none in the process.

With Mascia sidelined, the attacking burden has been shared. Santiago Charamoni and Rodrigo Aguirre were the men on target against the Uzbeks, while Elbio Alvarez struck from the spot to set Los Charrúas on the road to victory over Brazil, one sealed by their goalscoring substitutes.

When I’m out there I try to get on with my job, which is to play football. I don’t pay much attention to what’s going on off the pitch or in the stands. Uruguay's Guillermo Mendez

Coach Coito has shuffled his team in an effort to cover for Mascia and keep his forwards on their toes, with Mendez featuring in all six games so far but starting only the group game against England. San Martin, meanwhile, made the starting line-up for the first three games and then sat out the round-of-16 and quarter-final before making his return in Guadalajara.

“I’m always ready to play and got the chance to come on today,” San Martin told afterwards. “They’re technical decisions and I always do what the coach tells me.”

An immovable obstacle

Uruguay’s attacking plans may have worked out perfectly so far, but the foundation for their exploits at Mexico 2011 has been their miserly defence, which has let in just three goals in six games. That is three goals fewer than beaten semi-finalists Germany, who have the next best defensive record in the competition, having conceded six in their half dozen outings.

That defensive solidity was a factor once more against the Brazilians, with Uruguay’s steadfast rearguard and speedy midfield tirelessly combining to close down the gaps, their dedication to their task unaffected by the searing Guadalajara sun.

“This team’s got pedigree and the desire to chase down every single ball, which is really important in football,” added San Martin, extolling the virtues of a side that rarely loses its composure and shows a maturity way beyond the tender age of the players, all of which ensures that Coito’s game-plans are carried out to the letter.

“There’s no such thing as pressure as far as I’m concerned,” concluded Mendez. “When I’m out there I try to get on with my job, which is to play football. I don’t pay much attention to what’s going on off the pitch or in the stands.”

Given the cacophony of noise that the Mexico fans are sure to serve up at the Azteca on Sunday, that approach looks to be a sensible one.

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