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Dortmund, Al Hilal to contest Hamdan U-17 Championship final

Dubai - Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal stun real Madrid; Internacional pipped after dominating

Borrusia Dortmund punished Internacional for their below par finishing with a 2-1 victory in the first semifinal of the sixth Hamdan under 17 soccer championship at the Dubai Police Officers' Club stadium, Jadaf, on Friday.
In the final Dortmund will meet Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal who stunned Real Madrid 4-3 after an extra time match-winner, following the regulation period 3-3 stalemate on the scoreboard.
Dortmund, the Group A winners after absorbing all the pressure, somehow managed to escape, and that too with a win, which should have been gone the Brazilains' way after they held territorial advantage for a good 75 minutes of the match.
The silken touch and finer skills of the Latin Americans who finished runners-up in Group B behind Real Madrid, went wasted after they led 1-0 at halftime through a 29th minute effort by Emerson Eduardo. This was neutralised in the 73rd minute by the German club's Torge Lennart.
Borussia found the match-winner thanks to the sheer opportunism of the skillful Ozkan Terzioglu, three minutes from the regulation time whistle.
"We had out clearcut open chances but came off without it and instead of scoring three sure goals we finished with the first half 1-0 performance. On a day like this there is no point blaming bad luck for the way we dominated. There should not have been any doubts about the end result. Playing with 10-man we dominated play for a good part even after the unfair 61st red card minute decision for just an elbow infringement," Internacional coach Sandro Resende told Khaleej Times.
Borrusia Dortmund coach Christian Fluthmann told Khaleej Times: "The boys held well and mentally showed maturity far beyond their years. This is the most satisfying aspect of our win tonight (Friday). The goals came out of sheer hardwork after absorbing all the dangerous raids of Internacional and then counter attacking in an organised way."
In the first half, the South Americans dominated the show so much that the Germans hardly looked menacing, and unconvinced about their own skills. They were pinned down to their own half (German) at the Wafi Pyramids end for almost the whole of the first half. Eduardo sent home a grounder that curled past the outstretched hands of the diving German custodian Michelle Cordi for the equaliser.
The was a lot of work for the officials in the second half, a period which saw Internacional skipper Douglas Bohm being presented with a red card (61st minute); the exiling of Brazilian support staff members and the German coach to the stands, in the closing stages of the tense match.
The two times the Internacional defence hesitated in their tackling which otherwise was top rate throughtout the game cost them dear. Lennart and Terzioglu made full use of the small windows they got with looping headers that spelt doom for the talented Brazilians.
Richard Alexandre and Eduardo were responsible for not giving Internacional the higher platform they deserved when they missed two of the easiest opportunities one could have had.
moni@khaleejtimes.com