Brazil, Netherlands edge into under-17 world championship semifinals
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-09-27 16:40

The semi-finals at the FIFA U-17 world championship in Peru are set after the Netherlands and Brazil joined Mexico and Turkey in the last four with victories.

The Dutch, 2-0 winner over the United States, will play the Mexicans in Chiclayo, while defending champion Brazil, who struggled to overcome DPR Korea 3-1, faces the Turks in Trujillo. Both semi-finals are on Thursday September 29.

Jeffrey Sarpong was the hero for the Netherlands as his brace lifted the Dutch'Oranje' past the competitive U.S. at Trujillos Mansiche Stadium.

The Ajax forward opened the scoring just before half-time at the culmination of an impressive display of Dutch passing. Sarpong himself started the move and then finished emphatically from Vurnon Anitas assist eight yards out.

Kyle Nakazawa narrowly missed equalizing near the hour mark when his 20-yard free kick hit the crossbar, but Sarpong put the result out of reach at the end of a fine run down the left in the 84th minute.

Both sides were reduced to 10 men by the end with Neven Subotic for the Americans and Jordy Buijs for the Dutch seeing their second yellow cards in the 73rd and 78th minutes respectively.

After the match, victorious coach Ruud Kaiser was pleased that his team had met the physical challenge of the contest.

"It was a very difficult match for us," he told reporters. "The US played well and had more energy than we did coming out of the group stage since they qualified before their third match and we had to beat Gambia."

In the evening's other quarter-final, Brazil was forced by DPR Korea to play at full stretch in Iquitos before triumphing with two goals in extra time.

Ramon scored his fourth goal of the tournament, which made him joint-top scorer with Mexico's Carlos Vela, minutes after the half-time break, but Kyong Il Kim canceled out the lead with eight minutes left in regulation time from Myong Ho Choes cross.

Celso, who missed the last two matches through suspension, put the Selecao back in front in the 97th minute, and Igor settled theaffair with a goal in the last minute.

Brazilian coach Nelson Rodrigues paid tributes to the DPR Korean team after the match.

"It was a very hard match. They are very athletic, and it took all of our heart and fighting spirit to prevail," he said.

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