Saturday, February 12, 2011
Argentina's U-20 stay out of London 2012
Argentina’s defender Bruno Zuculini (R) runs celebrating his goal next to Colombia''s defender Luciano Ospina (L) and Sebastian Viafara (C) during their Under-20 South American championship final-round match.
Argentina's under-20 national football team defeated Colombia 2-0 but goals from Facundo Ferreyra and Bruno Zuculini were enough in their final encounter of the Under 20 South American Championships to qualify for the World Cup; but Walter Perazzo's side will stay at home in 2012 after later watching Brazil's demolition of Uruguay.
Argentina needed a minor miracle to qualify for London at kick-off; lying three points and five goals adrift of Brazil, Perazzo's boys had to thrash a disappointing Colombia side and hope Uruguay would score at least 5 goals against Brazil.
But things went a little different as a splendid hat-trick from Lucas set the tone for Brazil's dominant 6-0 win over Uruguay, which secured their second successive Under 20 title and also booked their place in the 2012 London Olympics.
Anyway, Argentina suffered a hammer blow early in the second half however when Sergio Araujo saw red, and Perazzo refused to push more men forward to compensate for the missing forward. The side subsequently showed next to no threat in front of goal even with the late entry of tournament revelation Juan Iturbe.
The result and the later Brazil victory means that Argentina finish third in the final group, good enough to book their ticket for the Youth World Cup later this year but not to defend their Olympic title.
Final Standings; Brazil (Champions) and Uruguay qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games; Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Ecuador and Colombia (as hosts) qualify for the 2011 Youth World Cup.
Argentina: Esteban Andrada; Hugo Nervo, Germán Pezzella, Leandro González Pirez and Nicolás Tagliafico; Rodrigo Battaglia, Héctor Cardozo and Claudio Mosca; Juan Iturbe, Rogelio Funes Mori and Facundo Ferreyra. Coach: Walter Perazzo.
Argentina needed a minor miracle to qualify for London at kick-off; lying three points and five goals adrift of Brazil, Perazzo's boys had to thrash a disappointing Colombia side and hope Uruguay would score at least 5 goals against Brazil.
But things went a little different as a splendid hat-trick from Lucas set the tone for Brazil's dominant 6-0 win over Uruguay, which secured their second successive Under 20 title and also booked their place in the 2012 London Olympics.
Anyway, Argentina suffered a hammer blow early in the second half however when Sergio Araujo saw red, and Perazzo refused to push more men forward to compensate for the missing forward. The side subsequently showed next to no threat in front of goal even with the late entry of tournament revelation Juan Iturbe.
The result and the later Brazil victory means that Argentina finish third in the final group, good enough to book their ticket for the Youth World Cup later this year but not to defend their Olympic title.
Final Standings; Brazil (Champions) and Uruguay qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games; Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Ecuador and Colombia (as hosts) qualify for the 2011 Youth World Cup.
Argentina: Esteban Andrada; Hugo Nervo, Germán Pezzella, Leandro González Pirez and Nicolás Tagliafico; Rodrigo Battaglia, Héctor Cardozo and Claudio Mosca; Juan Iturbe, Rogelio Funes Mori and Facundo Ferreyra. Coach: Walter Perazzo.
Colombia: Andrés Mosquera; Santiago Arias, Pedro Franco, Juan Camilo Saiz and Sebastián Viáfara; Edwin Cardona, Gustavo Cuellar, Didier Moreno; Michael Ortega; Fabián Castillo and Jorge Ramos. Coach: Eduardo Lara.
Stadium: Monumental Stadium (Arequipa)
Referee: Marlon Escalante (Venezuela)
Final Group Stage Table:
| G | Pts. | |
| Brazil (C) | 5 | 12 |
| Uruguay | 5 | 10 |
| Argentina | 5 | 9 |
| Ecuador | 5 | 8 |
| Chile | 5 | 3 |
| Colombia | 5 | 1 |
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