Weah hattrick helps USA drub Paraguay
NEW DELHI: Mounting relentless raids on the rival goal, USA overcame the lethal attacking prowess of Paraguay to crush them 5-0 in their FIFA U-17 World Cup prequarterfinal 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 hattrick by Tim Weah and 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 4-2-3-1 formation 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 19th minute, Ayo Akinola raced past two Paraguay players and his inch-perfect pass found Weah who kept his composure 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’or winner George Weah — contesting the Liberian presidential elections and Tim made it extra special with his performance.