8 November 2009
Lagos — First-timers Switzerland booked their place in the semi-finals of the FIFA U-17 World Cup Nigeria 2009 with an eventful 2-1 win over the Italians in Ijebu-Ode. Despite going a man down in the second half, the Swiss were the better side on the day and will now take on Colombia - who beat Turkey in their quarter-final in Bauchi - in the final four.
Colombia kept up their late dramatics here at the Nigeria 2009, equalising against Turkey in the dying seconds of their quarter-final in Bauchi and winning out 5-3 on penalties after a scoreless extra-time session remained balanced at 1-1. After coming back from a two-goal deficit to beat Argentina in the Round of 16, Colombia have firmly established themselves as the masters of the late show ahead of a semi-final date with Switzerland
The Italians began the match looking dangerous, with some fine wing play resulting in sharp crosses that the strikers just couldn't quite steer into the net. It took the Swiss 15 minutes to carve out their first chance of the opening period, Haris Seferovic hammering a long-range shot just over the bar. Five minutes later they signalled their intent once again when Roman Buess fired into Mattia Perin's mid-section, but the Italian keeper smothered the try at the second attempt.
The Swiss were very much in the ascendancy, and in the 24th minute they were rewarded for their incisive attacking play. A fine run and cross from the left side by Ricardo Rodriguez was expertly volleyed home by Nassim Ben Khalifa, for his third goal of the finals. Italian keeper Perin got a hand to the effort, but he couldn't keep it from bouncing in off the post.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
