U-17 WWC: Round II in Azerbaijan.

Well today we had action just as thrilling as yesterday with Germany facing Brazil as Japan and Ghana battled it out later in the day. How about the European - South American clash first? Once again it was a very close match with the two sides level 1-1 at the half thanks to the efforts of Djenifer (for Brazil) in the 13th minute. Sara Daebritz proceeded to equalize for the Germans in the 31st minute to the chagrin of the Brazilian supporters. With the opportunities relatively equal for both sides, it was all too fair a game. Nevertheless, the Germans dominated the possession and it eventually told for them in the 2nd minute of stoppage time of the 2nd half when Rebecca Knaak slotted home convincingly! That was all she wrote as the Germans played out the rest of time without incident. Meanwhile, in the game between Japan and Ghana the tension of the 1st half can be contrasted with the bliss of the 53rd minute goal for Ghana through Sherifatu Sumaila. That's not to say there weren't opportunities, but despite 67% of possession, Japan had a mere 8 shots. It's very hard to explain how the favorites were sent crashing out, but the Africans performed brilliantly, well-deserving the right to represent their continent for the first time in the U-17 Semi-Finals. Returning to action from yesterday, I just wanted to highlight the end result of the Nigeria - France game: it went all the way to penalties! In the end though, France won out on penalties, 5-3.