Brazil-Bolivia U-17; News and Notes

Last night was another 3-0 win for the under 17 squad against Bolivia with goals by Dodô, Wellington and Romário. Dodô was about a mile offside on the first goal. Wellington scored on an outstanding cross from Felipinho for the second. Finally, Romário scored off a deflection from the keeper for the final goal of the match. All in all, the score is a little deceiving, as the Bolivians played a decent match, and could have had at least one penalty called in the box that the official missed.

This victory came despite the disgraceful condition of the pitch. Every match at this tournament has taken place at the same location in Iquique, Chile, and it showed as there were holes all over the field. I thought this slowed the match down a bit, and this problem figures to continue into the final.

Brazil will play Argentina in the final on May 9th, and will go onto the U-17 World Cup in Nigeria, which starts October 24th.

In other news, one player who has had a great run of form recently is Anderson. He got the start yesterday for Manchester United in their Champions League semi-final match against Arsenal and had a very solid match. Its been a great month for a player who needed to re-establish himself. I hope Dunga takes an experimental side to the Confederations Cup, and Anderson should feature in this team. The tournament should be opportunity to give some players that are on the cusp of national team duties a hard look. Denilson, Hernanes, Hulk, Keirrison, and Sandro are among the players I personally would like to see get an opportunity.

Today is the UEFA Cup semi final between Dynamo Kiev and Shakhtar Donetsk. Again, if you have not watched these two sides play I highly recommended it, with both teams featuring many Brazilians in their starting XI.