Samba Soccer in Its Best Days

“Samba Rhythm” of the Brazilian national team shook the world again.

“Samba Corps” Brazil grasped the championship trophy at the 2003 World Youth Soccer Championship (under 20 years old) held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), beating the “Invincible Armada” Spain with the score of 1-0.

With this championship, Brazil stood on top again for the first time in 10 years since 1993 and for the fourth time overall, tying Argentina. The 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup Champion Brazil swept the adult, under-20, and under-17 championships during the last year and a half, proving itself to be the best in the sport as well as the most popular.

Fernandinho (20, Atletico Paranaense) took the leading role in the victory. Fernandinho rushed in front of a defender and headed in the winning goal while changing the direction of the ball which was kicked at the left corner by Daniel in the 87th minute.

Spain endured well despite inferiority in numbers after their defender Melli was sent off in the fourth minute, but it allowed the bitter goal with only three minutes left. Spain, sadly defeated by Brazil in the finals of the 1985 championship, aimed for the revenge of the 1985 final and for the final of the championship under 17 (Finland) this past August, but it ended in vain.

Colombia beat Argentina 2-1 by the first goal from Erwin Carrillo and the winning goal from Jaime Castrillon to take third place.

Meanwhile, the MVP of the Competition (Golden Ball) was given to Ismali Matar, the attacker of UAE, and the Highest Scoring Player (Golden Shoe) award went to Ed Johnson, the African-American forward from the U.S. who scored four goals and one assist.

Jong-Koo Yang yjongk@donga.com