Brazil tops Costa Rica 1-0 in U-20 semifinals

October 14, 2009

Costa Rica allowed a second-half goal and was beaten by Brazil 1-0 in the Under-20 World Cup semifinals on Tuesday.

The result sends Costa Rica to Friday’s third-place game against Hungary, already having achieved its best performance at the biennial youth championship.

Costa Rica reached the second round in 2001 in Argentina, its furthest advancement in six previous trips to the U-20 finals.

Brazil will play Friday for the title against Ghana, which beat Hungary 3-2 in the other semifinal earlier Tuesday.

The match was a marked improvement for Costa Rica – which was the last team to qualify for the second round — from its first match against Brazil, when it was beaten 5-0 in its open game of the group stage.

Brazil finally converted a dominant possession game in the 67th minute when Bertucci’s curling left-footed cross just cleared the head of teammate Alex Teixeira but landed at the feet of Alan Kardec, who hit a powerful volley from near the byline between the near post and goalkeeper Esteban Alvarado.

The goal was reward for Brazil, which had more than twice the possession, shots on goal and corners as the CONCACAF champion, but created few dangerous chances.

Of Brazil’s nine shots on goal, most were directly at Alvarado, who had his best moment by extending his left hand to knock away Souza’s shot from 10 meters from in front of the goal.

Costa Rica had few chances but tested Brazilian keeper twice in the first half, a free kick by David Guzman that had to be tipped over the bar in the 16th minute and Marcos Urena’s right-footed shot on a counter that was pushed around the near post by Rafael in the 44th.

CAIRO, Egypt

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More work needed for US to taste South Africa success

October 14, 2009

Landon Donovan likes what he sees from the US football squad after qualifying for the World Cup, but knows much more work is needed to make the most of their chances next June in South Africa.

Donovan, the all-time US scoring leader and a Los Angeles Galaxy teammate of English star David Beckham, said Tuesday it was difficult to compare US levels at this stage to the 2002 Cup quarter-finalists or the 2006 first-round flops.

“We’re pretty satisfied with where we are now and the hard work we’ve put in but I think we realize if we want to be ultimately successful in South Africa we still have some work to do,” Donovan said.

“OK, we’re there. Now how do we do everything we can to have success once we get there?”

Donovan will spark the Americans in Wednesday’s final North American hexagonal World Cup qualifying match against Costa Rica in the US capital. He feels he has made improvements on and off the field in the past three years.

“I’ve done a lot of that work already,” Donovan said. “I’m comfortable knowing I’m a different player and person than I was the last two hexagonals.”

The Major League Soccer standout said the North American league has already shown it can develop competitive talent.

“Our league can produce players that can play in the biggest tournaments in the world and I think we’ve shown that in the past two World Cups and this one,” Donovan said. “There’s not a vast difference.”

The next step is to win such a showdown. US coach Bob Bradley sees finishing first ahead of Mexico in the CONCACAF regional qualifying as a potential key to boosting the US seeding position for December’s World Cup draw.

“We don’t know for sure it will affect seeding but we believe that it could so in that regard it is important,” Bradley said. “We take a great deal of pride of being the best team in CONCACAF.”

So much so that Bradley is willing to risk top players even with a chance of injury or a red card that would bring a World Cup opener suspension.

“There are risks in the final game but this game is important,” Bradley said. “Of late, we’re very pleased with the way we’ve handled ourselves.”

Costa Rica qualifies for the World Cup with a victory but a draw or loss opens the door for Honduras, which must win at El Salvador to have a chance for the last automatic berth on offer from North America.

The same Hondurans who lost to the US team last weekend will cheer for the Americans against Costa Rica.

“We’ve got a job to do to put our best team out there,” US captain Carlos Bocanegra said. “It’s not fair for us not to go out there and give our best effort. If the situation was reversed we would be pretty angry.”

Costa Rica comes off a 4-0 blanking of Trinidad and Tobago in the first match under new coach Rene Simoes, a Brazilian who once guided Jamaica’s World Cup squad.

“Costa Rica is a talented team that hit a tough stretch in qualifying,” said Bradley. “Costa Rica’s big win has given life to their effort. We expect another big effort and we will prepare accordingly.”

WASHINGTON (AFP)

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US forward Davies stable after crash

October 14, 2009

Three days after experiencing the joy of qualifying for the World Cup, the US football squad was stunned and saddened Tuesday after starting forward Charlie Davies was hurt in a fatal crash.

Davies, a 23-year-old striker who plays for the French club Sochaux, was in stable condition after undergoing extensive surgery Tuesday for injuries suffered in a one-vehicle accident, US Soccer Federation officials said.

The injuries were described as not life-threatening by team officials but it was not certain exactly what injuries Davies had suffered or whether or not they might jeopardize his career.

Police were investigating the circumstances around the 3:15 a.m. crash, in which there was a fatality, US Soccer officials said.

US Park Police identified the person killed as Ashley Roberta, 22, of Phoenix, Maryland, a Washington suburb. An officer who arrived on the scene of the crash said the vehicle had been ripped in half.

Officials said Davies was a passenger in the vehicle involved in the accident on a major highway in suburban Virginia.

Davies started and played the first 78 minutes in the American team’s 3-2 victory last Saturday at Costa Rica, assisting on the first US goal in a win that secured the US squad a berth in next year’s World Cup at South Africa.

The US squad will face Costa Rica on Wednesday at RFK Stadium in the US capital in the final North American regional World Cup qualifying match, with Costa Rica seeking a victory to secure a World Cup berth.

Davies was not missed immediately because a morning team breakfast was optional but US coach Bob Bradley gathered playrs in a small meeting room at their hotel to deliver the shocking news early Tuesday afternoon.

“Obviously as a team we’re saddened to learn this news,” Bradley said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Charlie and Charlie’s family and the other person in the car and the others involved.

“The team has asked that any other thoughts we have, to keep them with the guys. As a team, we are relying on each other in a moment that has for sure hit us all hard.”

Players were told in a team-only meeting but their reaction was the shock and sadness that might be expected, US Soccer spokesman Neil Buethe said.

“Obviously the players are very saddened by the situation and hope the Charlie has a quick recovery,” he said.

US teen forward Jozy Altidore, who replaced Davies in Saturday’s match, typed a series of frowning faces on his twitter page Tuesday afternoon and said, ‘I’m not tweeting anymore y’all. Just not feeling well.”

The US team’s resiliency faces a major off-field test after a qualifying year in which American fortitude has been impressive in the wake of challenges on the field.

Americans have three triumphs and a draw in the final-round qualifying matches where they have surrendered the first goal.

Speaking purely of on-field events, US all-time scoring leader Landon Donovan praised the attitude players have shown in handling setbacks from bad passes and missed tackles to surrendered goals and stinging defeats.

“You can’t always control what happens in the game but you can control how you react and that has been one of the big situations for us,” Donovan said. “That has been a big plus for us this qualifying cycle.”

Davies, a 2008 Olympian, has scored four goals in 17 matches for the US squad. He was first called up to the team in June of 2007 for a friendly against China after a solid showing with the Swedish club Hammarby.

WASHINGTON (AFP)

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