Brazil Kills Starlets' Dream

In Auckland:
Brazil 2 - Leonardo 27, 29og.
Ghana 2 - Nathaniel Lamptey 65, Ishmael Addo 80.
Brazil won a penalty shootout 4-2.
HT: 2-0; Attendance unavailable

Match Summary: Defending champions Brazil made it again to the final of the U-17 World Championship after an exciting encounter with co-favourite Ghana and winning a dramatic penalty shoot-out. The Brazilians coped better with the pouring rain and the slippery pitch and took a 2-0 lead after 28 minutes. Ghana failed to deliver the goods in the first half, being unable to put their opponents under pressure and to set up goal-scoring chances. It took a beautiful header by Lamptey to bring the Africans back into the game. All of a sudden, their performance picked up and they managed to equalise nine minutes from the end of regular time.

Extra-time brought another exciting 30 minutes, but no additional goal. At the end of the day, Brazil took it all with a 4-2 victory in the shoot-out, after having dominated the game in the first half but being under heavy pressure in latter stages of the match.