The Hindu : Adriano is Brazil's saviour

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 23, 2003

Sport

Sport - Football

Adriano is Brazil's saviour

Brazil's Adriano (left) being congratulated by Ronaldinho after the former scored his team's only goal in the Confederations Cup match against United States in Lyon on Saturday. — AP

LYON June 22. First World champion Brazil, now World Cup bronze medallist Turkey.

Cameroon clinched another upset with a 1-0 win over Turkey on Saturday and continued its story run in the Confederations Cup straight into the semifinals.

Brazil got back into contention with a 1-0 win over the United States, which knocked the Americans out of the eight-nation tournament. Adriano scored his first goal for Brazil in the 21st minute for the slim victory.

The win puts the World champion on three points in Group B after two games, the same as Turkey.

Brazil and Turkey meet Monday to decide who will join the African champion in the semifinals. The United States has lost both its games so far.

Brazil got the breakthrough when American defender Gregg Berhalter hesitated with the ball on the edge of his area and was robbed by Adriano. The striker struck his first shot straight at goalie Tim Howard and then fired the rebound into the open net.

Despite the win, Brazil failed to impress against a side ranked 10th in the world and showed the same sluggishness and lack of polish which flawed its performance in its opening game loss against Cameroon.

Both sides improved on their first games in the tournament but there were few thrills. Players engaged in a midfield dogfight, hit too many stray passes and failed to make their possession tell.

Alex, the only new face on Brazil's starting lineup, brought much-needed cohesion to his side's midfield but Kleberson and Ricardinho were subdued.

U.S. coach Bruce Arena made seven changes from the side that lost to Turkey. Clint Mathis and Earnie Stewart introduced more grit and pace into the American outfit and allowed Landon Donovan more space.

Adriano, playing his fourth game for Brazil, had several other chances throughout the match.

He had an early opening when he took a pass from Ronaldinho inside the area, beat two players and hit a low shot just past the American post.

But that was the only highlight of the dull first 20 minutes for the 20,306 fans at the half-full Stade de Gerland stadium.

After the goal, Ricardinho broke through the American defence 10 minutes before the interval, meeting a side-footed pass from Ronaldinho, but he shot weakly.

The crowd, meanwhile, jeered the Americans, as they repeatedly went backwards instead of probing the Brazilian defence.

Their best chances came just before the interval when Mathis curled a free-kick just around Dida's left post and soon afterwards Stewart, charging down the left flank, crossed for Donovan who tapped wide from short range.

Mathis moved further upfield for the United States in the second half but the Brazilian defence held firm and launched a string of counterattacks.

A header by Adriano had Howard at full stretch, and Alex fired a fierce shot from outside the area which Howard just pushed wide.

Dida got down low to his right to stop a low shot from Donovan who broke down the right flank after 60 minutes but except for some solo runs the Americans lacked vision.

Ronaldinho produced a trademark swerving free-kick in the 75th minute which forced a leaping save into the top left corner from Howard.

In its first official competition since clinching a record fifth World Cup last year, Brazil is sorely missing its star players such as Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos who stayed away from the tournament.

Cameroon already has enough wins and joined host France in the semifinals.

A controversial penalty foul in injury time gave Geremi the chance to give the African champions victory over Turkey, and the Real Madrid midfielder cooly converted it, giving World Cup hero Rustu Recber no chance.

Following a disputed foul on Joseph-Desire Job, Geremi took the penalty kick in the 91st minute which saw the team through, the second successive upset for Cameroon.

Servet Cetin fouled Job, grabbing him around the waist and pulling him down just inside the penalty box.

Geremi had missed a number of scoring opportunities throughout the match, but was not going to let this last-gasp opportunity go by.

The victory riled the largely Turkish 43,743 crowd, which threw bottles of water and other projectiles onto the pitch in anger, while fights broke out in the stands. — AP

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