U-21 Group deciding action! 6/19/2011. Gold Cup too!

Well it was a big day for football as England faced the Czech Republic in a huge match to partially decide who would progress to the next round. The answer? The Czechs somehow ran away with the vital three points in a 1-2 victory for the side labeled as 'away'. All the goals, however, came after the 75th minute! England actually opened the scoring in the 76th minute through Daniel Welbeck. The English seemed to have outdone the Czechs for much of the game but it all fell apart in the 89th minute. This was when substitute Jan Chramosta slotted home to level the Czechs and put a ton of pressure on the shattered English. The English lasted until the end of regulation time, but lost it in the 4th minute of stoppage time when Tomas Pekhart struck a fair ball that beat the keeper and finished in the net. The Czechs were ecstatic. The English.. Not so much. It was an unfortunate match for the English but the Czechs deserved victory after their hard-fought late performance. In the other Group B match, things were a lot more one sided with the Ukraine falling 0-3 to a brilliant Spanish side. It all started in the 10th minute for the Spaniards as Juan Mata struck a fine shot. 17 minutes later, the Spanish were on the board again with Adrian slotting one away to make it 2-0 as the half-time whistle blew. The third goal was a lot longer in coming, but Mata converted a smooth penalty in the 72nd minute to put the last nail into the Ukrainian coffin. The Ukraine had up to this point received 2 yellow cards as well as a red to Denys Garmash in the 71st which essentially led to the third, penalty, goal. However, in the 75th minute, Ukraine's Yevhen Konoplyanka missed a huge opportunity from the spot which really made things sink in: the team of Blue and Yellow wouldn't be coming back. In yesterday's matches Iceland fought hosts Denmark while Switzerland looked to wrap things up perfectly against Belarus. In the first match, the hosts were defeated, 3-1, but were still somewhat in the running as there ended up being a 3-way tie for second place in the group. Neither side conceded in the first half, but there were several opportunities. It was in the 58th minute, though, when Kolbeinn Sigthorsson struck a great goal to give Iceland a lead over the hosts. Just two minutes later, Birkir Bjarnason struck once more for the Icelandic side to make it 2-0. At this point the home crowd were looking a bit dejected and angry. They perked up a bit when Bashkim Kadrii slotted one in for them in the 81st minute. It wasn't the beginning of anything though, as the only goal that followed was Hjortur Valgardsson's 92nd minute strike that brought the Danish hopes down. Denmark has been good at hosting though, and I for one hope the fantastic environment continues despite the home side's early exit. Meanwhile, in the match that would determine if Iceland would get through, the Swiss deftly dealt with Belarus 3-0. Admir Mehmedi struck both of the first half goals, one from the penalty spot in the 6th and the other from the open field in the 43rd to make it 2 unanswered goals to 0. Frank Feltscher tacked on a third in the dying moments to make it 3-0. One alarming thing about the game though, was the number of cards that were given: just 2 to the Swiss, but 5 to Belarus as well as a red card as two of these cards went to the same player (Sergei Matveychik in the 41st and 68th minutes.) Regardless, the teams that will be advancing to the semi-finals are: Switzerland and Belarus from Group A, and Spain and the Czech Republic from Group B. Hopefully the tournament continues to be this entertaining! Speaking of entertaining tournaments, how about the Quarter Finals of the Gold Cup? Yesterday, Costa Rica tied Honduras 1-1 with D. Marshall and J. Bengtson scoring for the respective sides in the 56th and 49th minutes. The Hondurans were only able to beat the Ticos on penalties while Mexico edged Guatemala 2-1 in regulation time! Javier Hernandez and A. De Nigris were the scorers for Mexico in the 66th and 48th minutes respectively. Carlos Ruiz was the man who scored the huge opener for Guatemala in the 5th minute which ended up actually being to no avail as defensively they just couldn't hold on. Today, the U.S.A. beat Jamaica 2-0 in a good display from the American hosts: Jermaine Jones and Clint Dempsey were the two scorers in quite a thrilling match. Panama and El Salvador have yet to play but I'll report on that game later. The same with the U-17 World Cup being held in Mexico!