World Cup Semifinals
March 28, 2015 - Major Arena Soccer League (MASL)
Chicago Mustangs News Release
Hoffman Estates, IL- The Chicago Mustangs, proud members of the Major Arena Soccer League (www.MASLSoccer.com), hosted the semifinals of the WMF World Cup Saturday night that saw Mexico defeat Brazil 6-5 in a shootout and the USA defeat Romania 7-3 to set up the final match for the World Cup.
The World Cup semifinals couldn't have started out any better after a late Brazil rally forced overtime between Brazil and Mexico. Mexico got out to an early lead in the first quarter when Mustangs Offensive Player of the Year Miguel Vaca received a pass from Wilo Martinez and buried it past Brazilian goalie Sanaldo. Brazil was able to answer 2 minutes into the 2nd quarter on a free kick from Mauricio Salles to knot it up at 1. Mexico re-gained the lead on a shorthanded 2-on-1 breakaway when Reymundo Reza fed Miguel Resendes for the one-timer. Mexico didn't take their foot off the pedal and added 2 more goals, one from Rodrigo Flores on a Vaca assist and one from Rodrigo Velez.
Brazil got a lift from Marcio Leite in the 2nd half as he had 2 key Brazil assists, one to Daniel Martini Mattos and one to Elmo Neto to close the gap and make the score 4-3. Mexico halted Brazil's momentum when Velez was able to find the back of the net on a shorthanded breakaway attempt. Brazil would answer right back on the power play as Neto received a nice feed from Salles and beat Mexico goalie Bernardo Valdovinos to keep the deficit at 1 goal. They wouldn't be down much longer, however, as Dias Tiguinho fired one past Mexico's keeper to force overtime. Neither team could capitalize in the golden goal overtime and it came down to a thrilling shootout. Mexico brought in Mustangs goalie Jesus Flores for the shootout and it paid off as Flores was able to make some aggressive stops leading to Jair Aleman firing one under Sanaldo and securing the victory for Mexico.
The second semifinal matchup pitting the USA against Romania got off to a quick start just like the first game. Team USA, coming off of a qualifying game last night, knew they had to be on top of their game in order to keep up with the talented, well-rested Romania squad. 3 minutes into the game, Chiky Luna of the USA fired one past Romanian goalkeeper Cristian Popa from point blank range to take an early lead. USA would keep the pedal to the medal and pile on the goals starting Brian Harris extended the lead to 2-0 on an unassisted powerplay goal. Evan McNeley added a goal on an assist from Kraig Chiles followed by a Chiles goal assisted by Harris to give the USA a strong 4-0 lead. Chiles would add another goal, assisted by Felipe Gonzalez, with 12 seconds to go in the half to send Team USA into halftime with a 5-0 lead.
It was a fairly quiet 3rd quarter that saw several quality Romanian opportunities but Team USA goalkeeper Danny Waltman was prepared as he made a few highlight-reel saves to keep Romania off the board. The USA extended the lead to 6-0 midway through the 4th quarter on another Harris goal. After a Team USA goalie switch, Romania showed signs of life and got on the board when George Adrian Calugareanu beat Joey Kapinos to cut the USA lead to 5 with 6 minutes to go. The USA didn't waste any time getting that goal back as the hometown hero Gordy Gurson fired one top shelf off an assist from Matt Clare. Not to be outdone, Calugareanu answered back mere seconds after Gurson's goal to add a tally for Romania and make the score 7-2. Romania appeared to start getting settled in midway through the 4th as they cut the lead to 4 with 4 minutes to go on a Radu Burciu laser. It was too little, too late for Romania, however, as time was their enemy in the latter stages of the game as Team USA would come out victorious and advance to the World Cup final with a 7-3 victory.
Team USA will play Team Mexico for the WMF World Cup tomorrow afternoon, Sunday March 29 at 5pm at the Sears Centre Arena.
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Major Arena Soccer League Stories from March 28, 2015
- World Cup Semifinals - Chicago Mustangs
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