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It's Brazil vs. Germany in quarterfinal of World Youth tournamemt
2005-06-21
ENSCHEDE, Netherlands - Defending champion Brazil beat Syria 1-0 and Germany edged China 3-2 Tuesday to set up a clash of soccer giants in the quarterfinals of the World Youth Championships.Italy beat the United States, burdened by a hapless Freddy Adu, 3-1 and will play Morocco, which squeezed past Japan 1-0 with an injury-time goal, in the other quarterfinal. Both final-eight matches are on Friday. Adu missed his second penalty of the tournament and never lived up to the hype that he was to be the star of the tournament as the Americans disintegrated in the second half. ``The worst tournament I ever played, personally,'' said the 16-year-old Adu. ``It is a huge disappointment.'' U.S. coach Sigi Schmid said Adu's lack of presence made it feel like they were a man down in the round-of-16 match. ``I didn't think he showed up today,'' Schmid said. ``He was not an impact on the game, he needs to be an impact on the game.'' Attention now turns to the Brazil vs. Germany clash, a junior version of the 2002 World Cup final which Brazil won 2-0. Germany only qualified as a lucky third-placed finisher and now hopes to continue winning. ``I hope that we also have chances in our next match,'' Germany coach Michael Skibbe said. ``Brazil has one of the best teams in the tournament. On the other hand, we have to play our kind of football, with counterattacks.'' Brazil's natural style is to go on the offense, but its narrow win over Syria - in which it needed a penalty to break the deadlock - has raised some doubts. Although Brazil was a continual threat, Rafael's 43rd-minute penalty after he was fouled in the box was the match's only goal. Syria goalkeeper Adnan al-Hafez guessed correctly but Rafael netted into the left side. China came into the second round with a perfect 3-0 winning record but it came up short against Germany - if only just. Marvin Matip headed the winner in the 89th minute, connecting on a cross from Michael Delura and his shot from inside the area bounced into the left corner. ``We played offensively, we scored goals, but unfortunately, we made too many mistakes on defense,'' China coach Eckhard Krautzun said. ``In the second half we had a few chances to score the knockout, and they had a few chances. Football is like this sometimes.'' Japan can understand - it lost to a goal in the 92nd minute. In a tight game, Japan's Robert Cullen hit the post and the bar, but Morocco's Mouhssine Iajour shot through the legs of goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa to send the north Africans through to the final eight.
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