Brazil and the U.S. took the field at Frank Clair Stadium in Ottawa Friday night, after an entertaining game between Argentina and North Korea.
The Brazilian fans were out in full force, beating their drums, blowing their whistles and chanting much like the Argentine fans had done for Ottawa. The pockets of American fans chanted "USA! USA! USA!" but their voices were drowned out by the non-stop Brazilian drumming.
The U.S. team is mostly composed of MLS players. Captain Freddy Adu from Real Salt Lake, in his third FIFA U-20 World Cup, played as a striker just ahead of the central midfielders.
The U.S. took the lead in the 25th minute after Josmer Altidore fired a low shot past Brazilian netminder Cassio after the U.S. won the ball with a hard tackle just outside the top of the 18-yard box. Brazil almost seemed stunned at the tackle as Altidore was given far too much room to do his damage.
The U.S. took a one-goal lead to halftime after a fairly even 45 minutes of play.
Brazil knew they had to crank up the pressure on the U.S. After all, who is the world's soccer superpower? Who has won this tournament four previous times?
Brazil scrambled home the equalizer in the 64th minute as Leandro Lima essentially tried to kick the ball and American keeper Chris Seitz into the net. Seitz remained down for a few minutes after the incident. Seitz would continue the rest of the game but one of his defenders would take the goal kicks on his behalf.
U.S. coach Thomas Rongen praised his keeper after the match. "He's had two great games. He kept us in the game against [South] Korea where we maybe didn't deserve a point."
In addition to the anticipation surrounding this match, another subplot was the duel between the two number 11's, Freddy Adu and Alexandre Pato. After picking up a yellow card for a horrific tackle, Adu kept plugging away, giving the fans a taste of his supreme skill. Pato had less of an impact on this game.
Adu's bag of tricks set up the go-ahead goal for the U.S. Bamboozling Brazil's defense near the touchline at the edge of the 18-yard box, his deflected shot found a wide-open Altidore who slotted home the game-winner and his second goal of the game.
The U.S. held on for a 2–1 win over Brazil. The Americans win Group D, while Poland finished second after they drew 1–1 with South Korea. Brazil finished third but should still qualify for the next round.
"The U.S. is a very efficient team. We needed to show efficiency to win the game," remarked Brazil's coach Nelson Rodrigues. "This was a very tough group."
Rongen reflected on the U.S. achievement thus far: "This was not just another game for us. It's very important to continue to push football [in the U.S.] to a higher level.
"We got Poland at the right time [U.S. defeated Poland 6–1 on Tuesday night]. They [Poland] were physically and emotionally beat [after upsetting Brazil 1–0 in the tournament's opening match]."
Rongen also paid tribute to his captain Freddy Adu: "He's ready for being captain and to take a huge role. His career is not over. He's dealt with hard circumstances and he's got the desire and heart to succeed at the highest level."
It certainly looks like third time's a charm for Adu. He has really stamped his authority on this tournament thus far.
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