Weah hattrick helps USA drub Paraguay
NEW DELHI: Mounting relentless raid son the rival goal, USA overcame the lethal attacking prowess of Paraguay to crush them 5-0 in their F IF AU -17 World Cup pr equarterfinal encounter at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on Monday.
Before the start of the game, hardly anyone could have predicted that USA will be the more offensive team among the two. Paraguay were absolutely brilliant in the group stages and with 10 goals in 3 matches, their attacking capability was the talk of the town. But, a hat trick by Tim We a hand superb strikes by Josh Sargent and Andrew Carleton sealed the win for USA.
“I don’t score a lot of beautiful goals as most of them are tap-ins. But, I am really proud of my goals today and I would like to thank (Andrew) Carleton and Josh (Sargent) for their brilliant assists. It was really a special performance for me,” Weah said.
Hackworth employed the tried-and-tested 4-2-3-1formation with Sargent as the lone striker and that opened up the space for their wingers. Ayo Akinola and Weah had no problems in dribbling past Paraguan defenders and it did not take them long to open their account.
In the 19 th minute, Ayo Akino lara ced past two Paraguay players and his inch-perfect pass found We ah who kept his com posure to score his first goal of the tournament. The goal was what USA needed to motivate their players and Paraguay had no answer to their link-up plays.
The second half completely belonged to Weah. It has been an important week for the Weah family with his father — Ballon d’ Orw inner George We ah—contesting the Liberian presidential elections and Tim made it extra special with his performance.