South American champion Brazil edged into the quarterfinals of the Fifa Under-17 Women's World Cup for the first time after beating Canada 2-0 in its final Group D match at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella on Monday night. Goals in each half from Paula and captain Thais saw the South Americans progress behind group winner Republic of Ireland, which trounced Ghana 3-0 in their meeting at the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet, Tobago. With both teams desperate for victory the two line-ups were largely unchanged, with Canada including two new faces in defender Yazmin Ongtengco and forward Zakiya McIntosh. Brazil, anxious to avoid a repetition of their first-round exit at New Zealand 2008, made just the one alteration introducing Paula, who had featured for just 23 minutes in the tournament to date.
Brazil showed flashes of quality in attack with some accurate long passes and pinpoint crosses. It was from one such Roberta cross that they opened the scoring on 20 minutes, with Paula enjoying a large slice of luck as her shot bounced over goalkeeper Sabrina D'Angelo.
It proved to be one of the few openings of the match with both teams struggling to find a cutting edge in attack. The second-half started in the worst possible fashion for the Canadians, who made a double change at the break, as Brazil went two ahead just six minutes after the restart through Thais. Getting on the end of a perfect pass from the left by Glaucia, she made no mistake with her simple finish. Jade Kovacevic had a chance to get Canada back into the match in the 54th minute, but she somehow fired wide of the target while team-mate Charlene Achille had a good chance in the 73rd minute, but her shooting sights were misaligned as she fired wide of the mark also.
As the game ground to a close, Brazil pushed forward half-heartedly and the scoreline was kept at 2-0 thanks to some fine saves from Canada's outstanding goalkeeper D'Angelo. With the win, the Brazilians finished on six points in the section, the same as Republic of Ireland, which topped the group due to a better goal-difference of plus-three to the South Americans, plus-two.
Republic of Ireland now meets Japan in its quarterfinal while Brazil meets Spain, both on Friday. Over in Tobago, the Irish surprisingly made light work of Ghana 3-0. Ireland had the best possible start to the affair when after only five minutes defender Megan Campbell blasted in a long range free-kick from 40-yards over the head of Ghana's goalkeeper Margaret Otoo, who was way off her line. Ireland's high-pressure style was causing havoc against Ghana rearguard, and in the 36th minute Denise O'Sullivan won the ball in the Ghana backline and played in Stacie Donnelly, who made no mistake with her shot to the top corner.
A minute before the interval, Ghana had a chance to get themselves back into the match from the penalty-spot after Aileen Gilroy took down Beatrice Sesu in the corner of the box. However, Mary Essiful hit the ball the wrong side of the right post to groans from the crowd. On the resumption, Ireland nearly made it three when O'Sullivan looked to be clean in on goal, but fortunately for Ghana, centre-back Regina Antwi was on the spot to make a last-gasp tackle.
Up the other end, Rita Okyere had a good chance in the 65th minute, rounding her marker and forcing a brilliant diving save from Grace Maloney. A header from the resulting corner-kick was cleared off the line by Siobhan Killeen as the girls in green were looking stretched. But the Irish sealed the affair in the 77th minute with another long-distance cracker, this time from Gilroy. n See Page A69
Results
Group C
n Japan 6 (Kumi Yokoyama 24th, 58th, Yoko Tanaka 59th, 89th, Mina Tanaka 74th, Yuka Honda 90+1) vs New Zealand 0.
n Spain 2 (Paloma Lazaro 28th, 83rd) vs Venezuela 1 (Anna Alvarado 74th).
Group D
n Brazil 2 (Paula 20th, Thais 51st) vs Canada 0.
n Rep of Ireland 3 (Megan Campbell 5th, Stacey Donelie 36th, Aileen Gilroy 77th) vs Ghana 0.
FIXTURES
Quarterfinals
Tomorrow
Venue: Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella.
Nigeria vs South Korea, 4 pm.
Germany vs Korea DPR, 7 pm.
Friday
Venue: Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva.
Spain vs Brazil 4 pm.
Venue: Larry Gomes Stadium, Malabar.
Republic of Ireland vs Japan, 7 pm.
September 21
Semifinals
At Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, 7 pm.
At Larry Gomes Stadium, Malabar, 4 pm.
September 25
Third place, 3 pm
Final, 6 pm.
STANDINGS
Group A
Teams P W D L F A Pts
Nigeria 3 3 0 0 10 3 9
Korea DPR 3 2 0 1 6 3 6
T&T 3 1 0 2 3 4 3
Chile 3 0 0 3 1 10 0
Group B
Germany 3 3 0 0 22 1 9
Korea Rep 3 2 0 1 7 5 6
Mexico 3 1 0 2 5 13 3
SAfrica 3 0 0 3 2 17 0
Group C
Spain 3 3 0 0 9 3 9
Japan 3 2 0 1 13 4 6
Venezuela 3 1 0 2 3 9 3
NZealand 3 0 0 3 2 11 0
Group D
Ireland 3 2 0 1 5 2 6
Brazil 3 2 0 1 4 2 6
Canada 3 1 0 2 1 3 3
Ghana 3 1 0 2 1 4 3
Leading goal scorers
7 - Kyra Milanowski (Germany)
5 - Lena Petermann (Germany)
4 - Lena Lotzen (German), Kumi Yokoyama (Japan), Loveth Ayila (Nigeria)
3 - Yeo Min Ji (Korea Republic), Francisca Ordega (Nigeria), Ngozi Okobi (Nigeria), Yoko Tanaka (Japan), Paloma Lazaro (Spain), Mai Kyokawa (Japan).