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10-Man Ghana Take Out Brazil on Penalties in the U-20 Final

Posted: 17 Oct 2009 08:10 AM PDT

Yesterday’s U20 final, Brazil vs. Ghana. So much potential for excitement. Ghana’s Black Satellites (the baby version of the Black Stars) came into the final having scored 16 goals in the tournament. Brazil stood at 14. Surely a goal-fest was in order.

But no.

The game-changing moment happens at about the 1:10 mark in the video, when Ghana’s Daniel Addo is sent off in the 37th. What do you think? Red, ref? Seriously? Dumb tackle, yes, but Addo’s not even the last defender. And it seems especially harsh in a U20 tournament, and even moreso in a final.

Ghana held on and managed to keep Brazil scoreless while creating the occasional opportunity themselves. No goals through both halves, then through both periods of extra time. So then we have this:

Penalties

Shock. Ten-man Ghana beats Brazil.

As expected, the folks from Ghana are ecstatic, the Brazilians less so. Sniffs coach Rogerio Lourenco:

“Of course, if you have 11 players creating chances they get more tired than a team with nine men at the back,” he said.

“I told the players to create chances and they did - we were not able to score today but they’ve done a great job throughout the tournament. When it gets to penalties, there’s nothing you can blame or regret.”

As a neutral I don’t think that gives Ghana nearly enough credit. But he didn’t ask me.

Must say, though, that — no offense to either team — the most interesting description of the game comes from LA Times’ acerbic soccer guy Grahame Jones:

Having just spent — wasted? — more than three hours watching Ghana and Brazil go through the motions in the final of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Egypt, I can draw only one conclusion:

If club teams around the world refuse to release their best young players to take part in such tournaments and if toothless FIFA is incapable or unwilling to do anything about it, then why bother?

(Daryl has expressed similar sentiments.)

I think Grahame Jones is a little harsh. (Then again, I “watched” the three-hour game in less than an hour, skipping over the boring parts.) But it does seem that if FIFA has plans to make this a serious tournament, perhaps they should be considering creating rules with teeth?