Hungary tops Costa Rica on penalties for third place at FIFA U-20 World Cup

October 17, 2009

Costa Rica missed four-consecutive tries from the penalty spot, as Hungary captured third place at the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2-0 on penalties, following a 1-1 tie after regular time at the Cairo International Stadium today.

Diego Estrada, Cristian Gamboa, Esteban Luna and Carlos Hernandez each failed to find the back of the net for the CONCACAF champion, while Krisztian Nemeth and Roland Varga were on target for the winners.

It was the first time that Hungary finished in the top three at a FIFA competition since taking the silver medal at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.

For Costa Rica, it was the best finish for a CONCACAF team at the U-20 World Cup since Mexico lost to the Soviet Union on penalties in the final of the 1977 tournament in Tunisia (the game ended 2-2 after extra time).

Intense heat of nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit contributed to a rather pedestrian opening half.

The second half, though, saw Hungary take control of the game and fashion numerous scoring chances. Costa Rican goalkeeper Esteban Alvarado, however, was in exceptional form, making saves on attempts from Andras Gosztonyi, Varga and Nemeth.

As the half wore on, Hungary continued its stranglehold on the flow of play, but it was Costa Rica that would take an 81st minute lead.

Marcos Ureña made it 1-0 when he sliced his way through the Hungarian defense and took a right-footed shot that that beat Peter Gulacsi. It was Ureña’s third goal of the competition, a team high.

The young Ticos were only moments away from an historic victory, when Jose Mena committed a foul on Nemeth in the penalty area. Referee Yuichi Nishimura pointed to the spot and Vladimir Koman converted the resulting penalty to knot the score in the first-minute of stoppage time. Mena was ejected for his second yellow card of the match.

The teams went directly to penalty kicks, where the exhausted Costa Ricans could not persist with the magic that carried them this far.

CAIRO, Egypt

Source

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Brave Ghana stun Brazil in U20 World Cup final

October 17, 2009

Ghana overcame Brazil 4-3 on penalties in the final of the Under-20 World Cup at the Cairo International Stadium here on Friday to become the first African side to win the tournament.

Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu struck the winning spotkick in sudden death after substitute Maicon had spurned the chance to give Brazil their fifth title by placing his penalty over the crossbar.

Ghana fought manfully after the controversial first-half dismissal of Daniel Addo, taking the game to extra-time and then riding their luck in the shootout after 120 goalless minutes.

Goalkeeper Daniel Aygei kept Ghana in the game earlier in extra-time with a point-blank save from Maicon, who had been teed-up 10 yards out by Alex Teixeira’s cut-back.

Reported Manchester United target Douglas Costa twice went close in the additional 30 minutes, while Aygei was also called into action by Wellington Junior.

The game changed with the straight red card shown to Ghana centre-back Addo, who was very harshly dismissed for a halfway-line foul on livewire striker Teixeira in the 37th minute despite the presence of a covering defender.

Ghana’s numerical disadvantage handed their opponents the initiative after an attritional first 45 minutes and Brazil dominated the second half.

Striker Alan Kardec scored Brazil’s winner in the 1-0 semi-final victory over Costa Rica but he was in profligate form against Sellas Tetteh’s men.

He spurned four chances inside 12 second-half minutes, first diverting a cross straight at Aygei before twice heading over and also firing into the side netting after a burst down the left.

Tetteh punched the air at the end of extra-time, proud to have kept the favourites at bay despite being a man down.

His joy turned to delirium when Agyemang-Badu slotted his penalty into the bottom-right corner after Maicon had fluffed his chance to give Brazil an unassailable 4-2 lead in the shootout.

Earlier, Hungary secured victory in their third-place play-off match against Costa Rica after heroics from goalkeeper Peter Kulacsi in another penalty shootout.

Marcos Urena’s fine 81st-minute opener for Costa Rica was cancelled out by an injury-time penalty from Vladimir Koman and in the ensuing shootout Kulacsi saved three penalties and saw one strike the crossbar to earn the Europeans a 2-0 spotkick victory.

CAIRO (AFP)