Zadeva: Intercontinental Cup 2015 Australia

We are now just 24 hours away from the start of the Intercontinental Cup in Australia featuring the best 16 national teams from Asia and the Americas.

The first matches will kick off tomorrow night at 11pm Eastern Australian time which should be 9pm in China, Chinese Taipei and Malaysia, 8pm in western Indonesia, 6.30pm India, 5pm Saudi Arabia, 10am in Argentina, Uruguay and eastern Brazil, 9am in Chile, 8.30am Venezuela and 8am in Peru, Mexico and the central parts of USA and Canada.

Although we've had unseasonably bad weather with a hailstorm in Sydney yesterday and flooding near Newcastle last week, the Bureau of Meteorology is predicting mostly fine weather for all venues tomorrow so the opening ceremony should go off without any hitches.

The world rankings indicate that Brazil and USA are the top teams leading into the tournament but Canada, China and Argentina all fancy their chances at taking out this prestigious title.

More reports will follow as the tournament gets underway.

crico
Australian national team manager

The first group of matches have seen three games go as expected and one upset.

In Group A, hosts Australia beat one of the tournament favourites USA 2-1 before a capacity 80,000 crowd at Blue Park. Both the Australian goals came from penalty kicks and some American fans suggested the referee was playing to the home fans. However, the reality is the American players didn't put their hearts into the game, expecting their teammates to step up and the upset result was a fair indicator of the teams on the night.

In Group B, Canada looked impressive, rattling five goals passed an outclassed Malaysia, each goal coming from a different player.

In Group C, another upset seemed possible when Brazil and Indonesia went to half-time locked at 1-1 but the Indonesians weren't able to sustain the effort in the second half eventually going down 3-1.

Group D saw the world's two largest nations China and India going head to head in front of a crowd of more than 70,000 and a TV audience of billions. China gained an early advantage with a goal to Song Haidong in the 12th minute then held off a spirited Indian side who threw everything at the Chinese, earning four yellow cards in the process but no goals.

Group A is extremely tight after the second round of matches with any combination of teams progressing to the playoffs still possible.

In the late game from the first round, Argentina defeated Saudia Arabia 1-0 on the back of a curling free kick from Zacarias Paez which found the back of the net in the 19th minute.

The first game of the second round saw Saudi Arabia grab an early lead against Australia thanks to a goal from Medhat Sassi in the 17th minute but a late equaliser from Edwin Schofield saw the points shared and Australia stay on top of this group.

The last game saw USA defeat Argentina 1-0. The Americans played with higher intensity than in the first game against Australia but despite having a possession advantage were unable to break through the tight Argentinian defence. However, Matt Henne was able to latch onto a Dominic Queen pass in the 66th minute to seal the win.

USA take on Saudi Arabia in the final group game while Australia will square off against Argentina.

Unfancied Venezuela became the first team to qualify for the playoffs after recording an upset 3-1 win over Mexico in Group B followed by a solid 2-0 win over Malaysia.

The first game saw an entertaining first half with Venezuela opening the scoring in the 6th minute thanks to Damaso Castellanos. Siro Alamos levelled the scored from the penalty spot in the 10th minute following a handball by defender Felipe Urbaneja. Leo Jimenez regained the lead for Venezuela in the 22nd minute and shortly after Mexican striker Alamos was sent off for a second yellow card. The numerical advantage allowed Venezuela to control the rest of the game with a third goal from Lucio Guerra in the 66th minute sealing the victory.

The second game was more clinical with Venezuela putting a goal past Malaysia in each half to record a comfortable 2-0 victory.

The final game was an arm wrestle between heavyweights Canada and Mexico. Canada appeared stronger in the first half until striker Rob Frenette was sent from the field for a second bookable offence. The Canadians chose to drop a defender to bring in another striker which should have provided an opportunity for Mexico but despite a number of shots on target neither side was able to break the deadlock.

The result all but seals Canada's spot in the playoffs. Mexico needs to record a convincing win over Malaysia in the final group game and hope Venezuela defeat Canada in similar fashion for them to have any hope of progressing.

All teams still have a chance of progressing in Group C but Brazil look to be in the strongest position needing just a draw in their final group game to go through.

Peru surprised Uruguay in their opening match with Hector Peralta getting past the keeper in the 5th and 19th minutes to create the advantage allowing them to lock the game up in the second half.

However, the boot was on the other foot in the next game when a plucky Indonesian team was able to upset Peru who went into the game fielding a second string XI. Indonesia opened the scoring just before half time thanks to a free kick from Handy Supriyanto. Peru rued a missed penalty shot in the 55th minute but were able to equalise shortly after thanks to Silvio Barrios. The game looked to be heading for a draw until the 89th minute when Peruvian defender Jorge Monterrosa accidentally handled the ball in the penalty area, Supriyanto calmly put away the penalty kick and give his side a memorable win.

In the other second round game, Brazil held a glut of possession against neighbours Uruguay but were unable to get the ball into the back of the net until the 86th minute when full back Leopoldo Flores became an unlikely hero for the Brazilians.

Despite losing both their games and not scoring a goal to date, Uruguay can still make the playoffs if they record a strong win over Indonesia and Brazil are similarly convincing against Peru. However, Indonesia will be motivated by the knowledge that they too can qualify for the playoffs even with a narrow loss in their game against Uruguay. There will be plenty of interest in the final group games here.

In Group D, Chinese Taipei has created its own Great Wall with a defensive line that has held out rivals Chile and China in their opening games so far. Unfortunately, they haven't troubled the scorers at the other end of the park either and will need to do so in their final game against India if they are to have any hope of progressing to the playoffs.

In the first game against Chile, Chinese Taipei held a slight possession advantage and managed three shots on target to just one for the Chileans.

In the second game against China, they again had a possession advantage against a more fancied opponent and while both sides had four shots on goal, none made their way into the net.

It was a different story in the final game between India and Chile with the Chileans rattling five goals past their subcontinental opponents. Juan Dobbs scored four of them staking an early claim for the tournament's Golden Boot award with Marco Brizuela notching the fifth.

China and Chile share the lead in the group and will face off in the final group game for top spot in the group while Chinese Taipei play India in the other game.

Following the last round of group games, the quarter finalists are now decided.

In Group A, Argentina thumped Australia 3-0 to take the top spot while USA beat Saudi Arabia 2-0 to also qualify.

In Group B, Canada recorded a 1-0 win over Venezuela to leapfrog them into top spot but Venezuela still qualified for the quarters. In the other game, Mexico and Malaysia played a desultory 0-0 draw that only angered the fans of both teams.

In Group C, Uruguay beat Indonesia 2-0 to give themselves a shot at qualifying. They then crossed their fingers and hoped Brazil could beat Peru by 3 to seal their spot. When Magno Navarro scored in the 3rd minute, a huge cheer went up from the Uruguayans but that was to be the last Brazilian goal of the night, a late equaliser leaving the final result 1-1 and both Brazil and Peru through to the quarters.

In Group D, Chinese Taipei beat India 2-0 in the first game, guaranteeing their qualification. Chile and China went into the final game knowing a win for either team would see them progress while a loss would mean a plane ticket home and a draw would see Chile celebrating and China packing their bags. Liang Tie gave the Chinese the advantage in the 7th minute, galvanising the Chileans into action. In the 13th minute, a free kick gave them an opportunity to prepare a set piece and Ricardo Garcia duly equalised. From there the game was an arm wrestle with neither side able to get further advantage. The final 1-1 score sees Chile and Chinese Taipei round out the quarter finalists.

Australian crowds love an underdog story and have warmed to Peru as the Intercontinental Cup has progressed. First they upset the higher ranked Uruguayan team in the group stage then they downed Chile in the quarters to book a semi-final spot.

The Chileans scored two early first half goals to Jose Luis Bello and Juan Dobbs and looked to have the game under control but when Patricia Grados pulled one back before half-time, Uruguay went to the break feeling they were still in with a chance. They made a few line-up changes and came out firing. Grados grabbed a second and in the 75th minute Walter Alvarez put them into the lead for the first time in the game. However, the Chileans weren't done with Silvano Chavez equalising just three minutes later and sending the game into extra time. There, Ruperto Aparicio made it 4-3 sending the jubilant Peruvians through to the next stage.

Their opponents will be fellow South Americans Argentina who ground out a workmanlike 1-0 victory over Venezuela thanks to a late strike from Zacarias Paez.

The third quarter final saw a North American derby between Canada and USA. The Americans were the higher ranked team coming into the tournament but played like park amateurs against a well-drilled Canadian outfit. Right forward Hudson Young was the star of the day scoring two first half goals before setting up Gordon Gable in the second half for a comprehensive 3-0 victory.

Their semi-final opponents will be Brazil who were similarly ruthless in disposing of Chinese Taipei. Mirroring Young's effort, Clayton Ruivino scored two first half goals then set up Rusintinho Fernandes in the second to also notch a 3-0 victory. The result took the last Asia team out of the tournament which is being played in the Asia-Pacific for the first time.

PPM has rescheduled the semi so Argentina play Brazil in the first game and Canada play Peru in the second.

One of the great rivalries in world football is that between South American heavyweights Brazil and Argentina and in PPM it is no different. Their Intercontinental Cup semi-final was highly anticipated in both countries and the teams appeared equally matched. Brazil had the first opportunity when Coradini was pulled down in the penalty area and the referee pointed to the spot. However, Ruivinho pushed his shot over the bar and the scores stayed level. Then in the 29th minute Ruivinho's fellow striker Fernandes was sent off after being shown a second yellow card. The momentum swayed Argentina's way and a few minutes later Zacarias Paes converted a penalty to take a 1-0 lead. In the second half Paes scored again from a free kick to make the score 2-0 Argentina's way and Brazil were unable to get back into the game from there.

The second semi-final saw Peru's charmed run end at the hands of a clinical Canadian outfit. Canada decided to play with three forwards but it was defender Elton Lai who opened the scoring in the 7th minute. However, the forwards took over from there with Jair James netting two second half goals and Rob Frenette another for a 4-0 final scoreline before a sea of red and white flags.

The final will see a confident Canadian outfit who are unbeaten in the tournament and have scored a whopping 13 goals in just five matches take on a canny Argentinian side who know how to exploit their opponent's weaknesses. Stay tuned for an epic contest.

Congratulations to Team Canada who defeated Argentina to take out this season's Intercontinental Cup.

Canada opted for the eccentric 3-4-3 line-up while Argentina went for the traditional 4-4-2. The Canadians opened the scoring in the 36th minute with a penalty after Pascual Anaya pulled down Marcel Gagne in the box and Rob Frenette duly converted. In the second half, Argentina swapped a defender for a midfielder in an attempt to gain more possession and opportunities but unfortunately most of their shots went wide and Canadian keeper Yves Todd was rarely troubled. Just before fulltime Canada's Jair James and Hudson Young combined to seal the result with James sending a blinder into the top corner of the net.

Frenette was named man of the match while Todd was named player of the tournament for his effort in not conceding a goal across any of their six games. Argentina's Zacarias Paes took out the golden boot award with seven goals across the tournament.