Brazil to rely on natural flair to break down England’s resolve
KOLKATA: Brazil will rely on their natural flair when they take on a resolute England in what promises to be a stirring semifinal contest of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup here on Wednesday.
Brazil survived a scare of sorts against Germany in the quarterfinals. In front of a crowd of over 60,000, the Brazilians took more than 70 minutes to get on the score-sheet before managing to seal it in their favour.
The two spectacular strikes from Weverson and Paulinho saved the day for them after usually clinical Germans had taken the lead in the first half.
The crowd is once again expected to be behind the South Americans at the iconic Salt Lake Stadium tomorrow despite the fact that the match was shifted here at the last minute from Guwahati due to the rain-soaked poor pitch conditions there.
The last-minute shift caused players of both the teams some inconvenience as they had already reached Guwahati and had to take another flight within hours of alighting there.
England were based here for three group matches and the round of 16 game before proceeding to Margao for the quarterfinal.
Brazil, on the other hand, were earlier based in Kochi and Margao but felt at home here after getting overwhelming support at the Salt Lake Stadium in their 2-1 win over
Germany. From the days of incomparable Pele’s first visit to the city in 1977, Kolkata fans have been traditional Brazil supporters.
Except for a brief period against Spain in their campaign opener, Brazil were largely untested before the Germany clash.
It was the first time in the tournament that Brazil were truly rattled. The Germans were, in fact, the dominant side, especially in the first half.
Brazil turned it around through two special strikes from Weverson and Paulinho in the space of six minutes to remain on course for their fourth title overall and first since 2003.
Brazil’s strike trio of Paulinho, Lincoln and Brenner have been in great form. Paulinho though overshadowed the other two in the match against Germany.