Flamengo advances to semifinals with a penalty miss on the last shot of the match.
São Paulo, Brazil - Seattle Sounders have offered today a new proof of the mental strength they have been displaying all through the tournament. They faced Flamengo in full conviction, and made things really difficult for the Brazilian side. After even getting ahead in the score turning the carioca advantage around, a last period equalizer by Anderson and the penalty shootout would leave them out of the road after this quarterfinal stage of the Mundialito de Clubes.
Things seemed to be going to get really tough for the North American when Anderson swept Flamengo ahead with an early hit. Marcelo Mendes knew about the carioca powder but what may not be in their plans was to be down in the score that early. But what surely was not on Valeiro Silva’s script either was that the spirited Sounders would turn the score around just as Frank and Ali Karimi managed to do before the first break.
Flamengo needed to react, but Morales, Plata and co. closed all the roads to Nico’s goal. And if any was left uncut, there was the Swiss goalkeeper the amend things. He saved all Brazilian attempts but the last one by Anderson that equalized the game. Although there were nine minutes yet to go, the score did not move again, and neither did it during the extra time, so the penalty kick shootout roulette would point who was getting into semifinals.
Both teams seemed unerring from the 9 meter spot, and p to nine kicks were taken in until Gil’s turn. The North American number 17 could not equalize the advantage achieved by MatÃas for Flamengo, and the Brazilian team found the door to semifinals.
Goals: 1-0: Anderson, min. 11 (1); 1-1: Frank, min. 3 (1); 1-2: Ali Karim, min. 0 (3); 2-2: Anderson, min. 9 (3)
Penalty shootout: André, in; Ali Karim, in; Anderson, in; Farberoff, in; Duda, in; Morales, in; Souza, in; Cati, in; Matias, in; Gil, misses.
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