U.S., Adu Eliminated by Brazil
Freddy Adu’s first world championship came to an inglorious end Sunday as the 14-year-old and his American teammates were beaten, 3-0, by Brazil and ousted from the FIFA Under-17 World Championship in Finland.
The North and Central American and Caribbean region’s other two representatives in the 16-nation finals fared no better, with Costa Rica losing to Colombia, 2-0, and Mexico being beaten by Argentina, 2-0.
In the other quarterfinal, Spain routed Portugal, 5-2.
The U.S. had been expected to challenge for the title but found itself outclassed by a Brazilian team that dominated the match in Turku, Finland, outshooting the Americans, 18-3.
The U.S. team’s physical approach to the game was shown in the foul count, with Coach John Ellinger’s side committing 15 fouls compared with nine for Brazil.
It took the unbeaten Brazilians only 18 minutes to take the lead, on a headed goal by defender Leonardo. Ederson made it 2-0 in the 61st minute and, three minutes later, tournament joint-leading scorer Evandro sealed the victory with Brazil’s third goal.
“The players did what they needed to do today,” said Brazil Coach Paqueta, whose team will play Colombia in Wednesday’s semifinals.
Ellinger was left to marvel at a technically superior opponent.
“They have a wonderful team,” he said, “and they grabbed two crucial goals right when we were getting back into the game.
“Unfortunately for us it ended up 3-0, but I didn’t feel like I had just been through a 3-0 game. I felt we definitely played better than that.”
Adu, expected to join a professional team within the next week or two, said the U.S. had done all it could.
“I felt like I gave it my all, but in the end we just didn’t get lucky,” he told U.S. Soccer. “That’s the way I think about it. I mean, give credit to Brazil. They were awesome and deserved to beat us today.”
Colombia overcame Costa Rica in Toolo, Finland, behind first-half goals by Jose Otalvaro, and Argentina, which plays Spain in Wednesday’s other semifinal, used its counterattack to advantage in shutting out Mexico in Lahti, Finland, on first-half goals by Neri Cardozo and Hernan Peirone.
Ferguson Contrite
Manchester United Coach Sir Alex Ferguson faces disciplinary action from the English Premier League after being red-carded early in United’s 2-1 victory over Newcastle United on Saturday.
Ferguson, reportedly using four-letter words with abandon, berated the match’s fourth official after referee Uriah Rennie failed to punish Newcastle’s Irish international Andy O’Brien for a foul on Manchester winger Ryan Giggs.
Ferguson was banished from the field, and Sunday was quoted by the News of the World tabloid as saying: “I suppose I will have to curb my behavior in the future.”
Italians Strike
Italy’s Serie B clubs went on strike Sunday, refusing to play qualifying matches for the Italian Cup after the country’s soccer federation last week arbitrarily increased the number of teams in the division by four.
The decision to raise the number of Serie B clubs from 20 to 24 was made after relegated clubs filed lawsuits aimed at overturning their relegation to a lower division.
Federation officials Sunday said the striking clubs could be fined and kicked out of the Cup competition.
MLS Update
Ante Razov scored with four minutes left to give the Chicago Fire (11-4-6) a 2-1 victory over the MetroStars (8-6-7) at East Rutherford, N.J. John Wolyniec scored for the MetroStars and Damani Ralph had Chicago’s other goal. ... Ramiro Corrales scored in the 80th minute to lead San Jose (11-3-7) to a 1-0 victory over visiting D.C. United (7-8-6).
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Times wire services contributed to this report.
