CP Football World Championships - Day 10

DAY 10: AS IT HAPPENED

Day 10 produced the two finalists for the tournament, as the Russians swept aside the Netherlands and Ukraine came out on top in a closely fought match with Brazil.

Argentina versus Republic of Ireland was the first game of the day, as the battle for places nears a conclusion. Both teams had suffered 4 – 0 defeats in their quarter final matches, and the game was an extremely tight affair.

The match looked to be heading to penalties until Luke Evans popped up with the winner for the Republic of Ireland with just 5 minutes remaining. The Irish held on and go into the 5th/6th plac play off with the final score standing at Argentina 0-1 Republic of Ireland.

In the second game of the day England put on a scintillating display to put ten past the USA, in a game which the home nation dominated from start to finish.

An inspired display from American keeper Keith Johnson stopped England from going further into double figures, but Jake Brown, James Blackwell and super sub Oliver Nugent all grabbed braces, whilst Jack Rutter, Matthew Crossen and Michael Barker also got on the scoresheet to leave the score at USA 0-10 England.

The first Semi Final saw Brazil take on Ukraine and a closely fought first half sent the sides in at half time all square as goals from Antoniuk and superb strike from Wanderson ensured for a pulsating second half an hour.

The second half was just as tight, but Ukraine broke through when a Krasylynykov shot hit the post and crept over the goal line. A fine save from Ukraine goalkeeper Kostyanty Symashko right at the end denied Brazil an equalier and Ukraine go through to the final after it finished Brazil 1-2 Ukraine.

In the other Semi Final, between the Netherlands and Russia, there was a more one sided nature to the match, as Russia took control and hit the post after only two minutes. Two goals from Ramonov had Russia 2-0 ahead at the break after the Netherlands had kept them at may for most of the first half.

Russia continued to press in the second half with goals from Pestretsov, Larionov, Potekhin and Borkin completing the victory in a match which they dominated throughout. Russia go through to face Ukraine in Sunday's final after it ended Netherlands 0-6 Russia.

ARGENTINA 0 - 1 REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

Republic of Ireland came out on top, winning 1-0, in a high tempered encounter with Argentina. The game was perhaps the most evenly matched game so far at the Cerebral Palsy World Championships 2015.

The breakthrough did not come until the 55th minute through Luke Evans scrambling the ball over the line, resulting in mass celebration from the Irish squad on the side-lines.

The first half was a feisty affair, but not without its moments of entertainment. Gary Messet and Matias Bassi collided off the ball, to signal the start of the flaring tempers, resulting in both players receiving yellow cards.

Ireland began to take more control as the half progressed, with Dillon Sheridan and Messet growing increasingly influential. Joe Markey’s long-range effort whistled past the post, with Gustavo Nahuelquin scrambling in his effort to ensure it remained at stalemate.

Argentina’s best chance of the half came through Bassi, after Markey’s mis control presented the opportunity for Bassi, only for him to fire over the bar.

In truth, there were few clear cut chances for either side, with Bassi nearly turning into his own net, diverting a dangerous Ireland corner inches over his own cross bar.

The second half was as equal and tense as the first, with the game not sparking into life until the 55th minute breakthrough from Evans. It was the influential Sheridan who provided the cross with perhaps the one real moment of quality in the game, with Evans needing to provide only a touch to provide the decisive goal.

Argentina looked to be a different team with many more chances coming in the final five minutes, through desperation in order to grab the elusive equaliser.

Sheridan, was the difference between the two sides, ultimately looking like the only player who could have created something to break the deadlock. Sheridan himself should have scored in the 34th minute only for Gustavo Nahlequin to pull off a stunning save.

Republic of Ireland though can be delighted with the result, coming out on top against a side of equal quality and equally determined.

Argentina

Team: Gustavo Nahuelquin (GK), Pablo Matias Molina, Mariano Cortes, Rodrigo Adolfo Luquez, Matias Agustin Bassi, Rodrigo Eloy Lugrin (C),Matias Fernandez

Substitutes: Claudio Figuera (GK), Maximiliano Sebastian Fernandez, Ezequiel Anibal Jaime, Duncan Coronel, Mariano Andres Morana, Matías Salvat, Alberto Alabarce.

Booked:  Matias Agustin Bassi (6”), Mariano Cortes (28”), Matias Fernandez (48”)

Republic of Ireland

Team: Simon Lestrange (GK), Joe Markey, Luke Evans (C), Eric O'Flaherty, Gary Messett, Carl McKee, Dillon Sheridan,

Substitutes: Brian McGillivary (GK), Darragh Snell,  Paraic Leacy, Aaron Tier, Peter Cotter, Ryan Nolan, Jason Moran

Scorers: Luke Evans (54")

Booked: Gary Messett (6"), Luke Evans (22")

Details

Match officials: Keith Stroud, Jorge Barbisan, Minesh Gupta, Carlos Dias. 
Attendance: 127

USA 0 - 10 ENGLAND

England put ten goals past USA to set up a date with the Republic of Ireland in the battle for fifth position at the Cerebral Palsy Football World Championships.

The hosts started smartly with Jack Rutter, Michael Barker and Jake Brown all having early chances to give the hosts an early lead.

But it wasn’t long before Brown did make the breakthrough with seven minutes on the clock capitalising from close range after a shot by Rutter from the edge of the box was parried and fell into the path of Brown who tapped home from a yard out.

The Three Lions went on to dominate.

Matt Crossen had the chance to add a second shortly after, his effort was saved superbly by Keith Johnson in the USA net.

But it was Brown again who added a second on the quarter-hour mark, once again the poacher finding himself in the right place to despatch a fumbled Matt Crossen free-kick.

Rutter played a neat one-two with Barker with six minutes left in the first-half. The Gloucester man received the ball five yards from goal before he slotted into the bottom corner to make it 3-0.

With a rare venture into the England half USA won a free-kick that proved to be costly for the red, white and blue as they were caught on the counter.

Giles Moore launched his throw towards Barker, who then found Crossen before it was laid into the path of James Blackwell who made no mistake when he added the fourth from close range and capped off a comprehensive half for Keith Webb’s men.

England started the second half as enthusiastically as the first, Barker with the pick of the attempts that flurried towards Johnson’s goal.

David Garza put through his own net in the 36th minute after link up play between Brown and Rutter carved a chance – Garza can take solace from the fact that it would’ve been a goal had he not intervened.

A sixth was added with England’s next attack, Blackwell wrapped up after a Barker attempt was again spilled by the USA ‘keeper who’d made some impressive saves but some costly mistakes.

Chaos then ensued with four goals in seven minutes.

A special moment presented itself to Crossen in the 43th minute – he scored his first goal for England.

What a strike it was too.

From the edge of the centre circle, he found the bottom corner of the USA net, his team mates then lifted him high in the air as part of the moment he’ll savour for a very long time.

Ollie Nugent, who replaced Rutter moments before, added an eighth after good turn and shot.

Barker was then brought down in the area and awarded a spot kick.

He stood-up to take it himself and added his second goal of the game with 45 minutes on the clock to make it nine for England. It was now a rout.

Nugent had made a real impact and added his second, England’s tenth, with ten minutes of the game still to go. If England could’ve shown this intent against Russia it could’ve been a different story.

USA will face Argentina in their next fixture to decide who finishes in seventh and eighth place, with England headed for a tie with the Republic of Ireland to decide who finishes fifth.

USA

Team: Keith Edward Johnson (GK), Bryce Zachary Boarman, Tyler Allen Bennett, Jordan Andrew Weise,Mason Dane Abbiate, David Navarro Garza (C), Michael Robert Moore

Substitutes: Gavin James Sibayan, Adam Kyle Ballou, Seth David Jahn, Kevin Tyler Hensley, Marthell Alonso Vazquez (GK).

Booked: Jordan Andrew Weise (40”)

England

Team: Giles Moore (GK), Harry Baker, Mathew Crossen, Jack Rutter (C), Michael Barker,James Blackwell, Jake Brown,

Substitutes: Karl Townshend, Martin Sinclair, George Fletcher, Oliver Nugent, Ryan Kay (GK)

Scorers: Jake Brown (7”, 16”), Jack Rutter (24”), James Blackwell (29”, 38”) O.G (36”), Matthew Crossen (43”), Oliver Nugent (43”, 51”), Michael Barker (44”)

Details

Match officials: Kyunyong Park, Hayley Ives, Hector R Bondia, Tom Elliott 
Attendance: 158

BRAZIL 1 - 2 UKRAINE

Ukraine won the chance to compete in Sunday's World Championship FInal after a thrilling victory over third ranked team Brazil.

Krasylnykov was the hero for the European champions, as it was his 47th minute goal that separated the teams but it was a team effort that clinched their spot in the final.

Early on both teams kept the ball well; Jan Francisco and Wanderson of Brazil did a particularly good job to keep the ball moving and away from the Ukrainians.

However, it was Ukraine who took the in the 8th minute against the run of play though, when VitalityTrushev played VolodymyrAntoniuk in. With only Brazil ’keeper, Marcos, to beat, the Ukraine captain made no mistake and calmly slotted the ball into the bottom right corner for his 12th goal of the tournament.

Brazil continued to look the better side, with Wanderson and Jose Carlos linking up pleasantly on more than one occasion, however the Ukraine’s defence held firm whilst their strong tackling seemed to ruffle some Brazilian feathers.

Brazil’s pressure finally told in the 18th minute when star-man Wandersonscored one of the goals of the tournament from 30-yards, into the top left-corner. The number 10 added to his three goals in the tournament after picking the ball up and taking on two players, before his shot left Symashko no chance in the Ukraine goal.

There were no more goals in the first-half, but once the game recommenced for the second half it was the Brazilians who continued to control the play. Nevertheless they were unable to cause a significant threat to the Ukraine goal.

As the match continued, the tackles became increasingly firm and after joining the game as substitute VitaliiRomanchuk picked up the first booking of the match for a foul on Fernandes.

With play constantly switching from end to end, it was Ukraine who regained the lead when a team move wasconverted in the 47th minute.

It was Krasylnykovwho scored the goal, his fourth of the tournament, after he was given the ball by Antoniuk; from 10 yards out Krasylnykov was in full control, and took a moment before he struck the ball into the goal off the inside of the post

Despite Brazil pushing for an equaliser, it was Ukraine who looked more likely to score. As game moved towards the final whistle Brazil had a few half chances, and with seconds left looked like they had equalised, only for Symaskoto pull off a brilliant save.

As the full-time whistle sounded Brazil were despairing over what might have been, whilst there was jubilation in the Ukraine camp as they took one step closer to realising their dream of becoming World Champions.

Brazil

Team: Marcos Dos Santos Ferreira (GK), Fernandes Celso Alves Vieira (C), Jose Carols Monteiro Guimarães, Ubirajara da Silva Magalhães, Igor Romero Rocha, Wanderson Silva de Oliveira, Jan Francisco Brito da Costa

Substitutes: Jonatas Santos Machado, Felipe Rafael da Silva Gomes, Ronaldo de Souza Almeida, Evandro de Oliveira Gomes de Souza, Wesley Martins de Souza (GK), Diego Delgado da Silva, Gilvano Diniz da Silva (GK) 

Scorers: Wanderson Silva de Oliveira (18")

Booked: Jose Carols Monteiro Guimarães (51"), Wanderson Silva de Oliveira (56")

Ukraine

Team: Kostyantyn Symashko (GK), Vitaliy Trushev, Taras Dutko, Oleh Len, Dmytro Molodtsov, Volodymyr Antoniuk (C), Artem Krasylnykov

Substitues: Yevhen Zinoviev, Edhar Kahramanian, Vitalii Romanchuk, Denys Ponomarov,  Stanislav Podolskyi, Bohdan Kulynych (GK), Artem Sheremet

Scorers: Volodymyr Antoniuk (8"), Artem Krasylnykov (46")

Booked: Vitalii Romanchuk (42")

Details

Match officials: Jon Burridge, Adam Panter, Ashley List, Jorge Barbisan
Attendance: 127

NETHERLANDS 0 - 6 RUSSIA

Russia will take on Ukraine in the final of the competition after easing to a comprehensive 6-0 victory over the Netherlands.

Avtandil Baramidze’s side had initially struggled to break down a resolute Dutch defence, and were left frustrated having wasted a number of clear-cut chances to open the scoring early on.

But two goals in as many minutes towards the end of the first 30 minute period eventually got the ball rolling for the Russians. Eduard Ramonov grabbed the first, finishing off a sublime individual effort on the counter-attack in the 25th minute.

Defender Georgiy Albegov cleared a Holland corner as far as Ramonov, who skipped the challenge of Daan Dikken on the half-way line before driving forward into the centre of the box and striking the ball into the goal off the underside of the bar.

And the 2012 Paralympic champions soon doubled their lead thanks to an unfortunate own goal from the Netherlands’ Joey Mense. Dmitrii Pestretsov played in Ramonov, whose subsequent cross from the right-hand channel bounced into the goal off the helpless Mense.

The Russians were certainly good value for their lead but they will be concerned about the number of goal-scoring opportunities they spurned, especially during the first 20 minutes.

It was Alexander Kuligin, a persistent threat down the left-hand side throughout, who came closest to opening the scoring inside the first minute. In a one-on-one situation where he looked destined to give Russia an instant lead, Kuligin struck the post.

Then, in the 13th minute, the Russians had their best chance to score. Ramonov and Pestretsov played a number of neat one-twos with each other inside the box with no defenders in their way, but the duo were too flamboyant. Pestretsov tried to be clever, deciding to return the ball to Ramonov when he could have finished the move himself, and the midfielder somehow missed the target.

Eventually, though, the Flying Dutchmen’s admirable resistance collapsed, with two Russian goals in quick succession dealing Marcel Geestman’s side a real sucker-punchfive minutes from the end of the first half.

However, it could have been a very different story had the Netherlands taken their own chance just four minutes earlier. When Dikken found space in the box, he tried to catch goalkeeper Guram Chkareuli out with an audacious chip, but the back-tracking Russian shot-stopper did well to parry the ball over the bar.

Ironically, having taken so long to break the deadlock in the first-half, it took Russia just ten minutes into the second half to claim their third of the match and effectively put the game to bed.

Even more ironic is that it was Pestretsov who scored the third after missing so many first-half chances. Following an intelligent interchange with substitute Alexei Borkin, the forward smashed the ball home with great conviction.

A minute later and it was 4-0. Captain Ivan Potekhin played in Viacheslav Larionov, who drilled the ball low into the goal.

Potekhin then turned from provider to scorer, side-footing comfortably into the bottom right-hand corner after receiving the ball from Pestretsov.

And Borkin’s deflected effort wrapped up the win thirteen minutes from time.

It is unlikely that Russia will have as many chances against Ukraine, who narrowly beat Brazil 2-1 in the other semi-final, so they will have to make the most of the ones they get. Meanwhile, the Netherlands will play Brazil in the play-off for third and fourth place.

Netherlands

Team: George Van Altena (GK), Jeroen Saedt, Jeroen Schuitert, Peter Kooij, Lars Conijn (C), Daan Dikken, Joey Mense

Substitutes: Stefan Boersma (GK), Teddy Witjes, Minne de Vos, Rik Rodenburg, Stephan Lokhoff, Iljas Visker, Guido Floors

Booked: Joey Mense (23"), Peter Kooij (28"), Stephan Lokhoff (50"), Lars Conijn (57")

Russia

Team: Guram Chkareuli (GK), Alexey Chesmin, Ivan Potekhin (C), Eduard Ramonov, Dimitrii Pestretsov, Georgiy Albegov, Alexander Kuligin

Substitutes: Aslanbek Sapiev, Alexey Tumakov, Lasha Murvanadze, Viacheslav Larionov, Vladislav Raretckii (GK), Zaurbek Pagaev, Alexei Borkin

Scorers: Eduard Ramonov (26"), OG (27"), Dimitrii Pestretsov (40"), Viacheslav Larionov (41"), Ivan Potekhin (44"), Alexei Borkin (46")

Booked: Aslanbek Sapiev (50")

Details

Match officials: Hector R Bondia, Carlos Dias, Minesh Gupta, Scott Henry
Attendance: 156