Undefeated Paulista and Ottawa storm into women’s semifinals

 

With daring and enterprising play, unbeaten Paulista University takes top stop into semifinals

 

JINJIANG — When thinking of Brazilian football, memories of daring and imaginative plays from the game’s greatest players wearing the country’s distinctive yellow jersey come to mind. Yet in the final game of group play it was the University of Sydney sporting the coveted colour while Paulista University wore white, the same colour the Brazilian national team promptly retired after their defeat to Uruguay before a stunned Maracana Stadium audience in the 1950 World Cup final.

 

Needing a win — and a little assistance in the group’s goal-scoring differential — to advance into the KELME 2019 University World Cup semifinals it’d take a sublime Sydney effort to upend Paulista University. Turns out Paulista University is comfortable in white.

 

“Seeing yellow, yes, it was a little strange for sure,” standout Paulista striker Mylena Pedroso said. “But white is one of our universities colours, too, so wearing it was okay for us.”

 

From the opening whistle, the São Paulo-based players subtly stamped the game into their style of play. In the opening minutes, Paulista’s flowing and opportunistic play generated offensive goal-scoring opportunities against a feisty Sydney team.

 

Nine minutes in, Paulista’s midfielder Kimberly Damares Brandino turned a pass from midfield into a well-struck long-range boot that arced over the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Serika Shillingsworth and into the upper left corner pocket of the goal.

 

“It was great to open the scoring for my team,” Brandino said.

 

Brandino went on to note having Paulista’s men’s team come to their matches to dance and cheer them on in true Brazilian style made their three-game unbeaten run to start the tournament all the more memorable.

 

“It’s especially nice to have them here with us. Of course in Brazil, we don’t have as the visibility of the men’s team so this championship helps us. We get to stay at the same place, watch each other’s matches, relax and recover at the hotels together.”

 

Paulista’s relentless opportunistic style was snuffed out by opportune steely slide tackles and heady play from the back four. It also left the door slightly open for enterprising counter-attacks from the University of Sydney’s offensive-minded players.

 Paulista University’s Bruna Calderon (no.8) celebrating the second of her two goals within a minute of each other during their final Group A stage game agains the University of Sydney

But in the second half, there would be no late-game heroics to bring the University of Sydney into the semifinals. Paulista turned a 1-0 halftime advantage into a resounding 4-0 win by game’s end.

 

In the 48th minute, Paulista’s Bruna Calderon sent a blistering midrange shot skirting past the goalkeeper.

 

One minute later, Calderon connected again on a counter-offensive attack that was set up from a long pass down the left line that left the University of Sydney pressed-up midfielders and defenders scrambling back. Pedroso placed the assist directly before the goalkeeper’s box, which Calderon quickly put away. It was a clinical display of football execution matched with Paulista’s speed, athleticism, and goal-scoring flourish.

 

In the 60th minute, Pedroso’s playmaking was rewarded with a goal of her own. She nearly added another four minutes later when her shot on goal bounced off the crossbar.

 

The University of Sydney had their work cut out for them heading onto the Quanzhou College of Technology Stadium. Not only a win against the Brazilians would be enough; they needed a little assistance in the goal-scoring differential after dropping their second game to Beijing Normal University, 3-0. With the Sydney loss and their 17-0 rout of the University of Lausanne, Beijing Normal University is China’s lone representative in the University World Cup men’s or women’s knockout rounds.

 

As Group A’s top seed, Paulista will face the College of Asian Scholars in Thursday’s semifinals. In finishing third in group play, the University of Sydney will meet Donghua University of China in Thursday’s fifth-sixth place final ranking game.

 

Tomorrow morning, though, Paulista will join many of the other women’s teams to traverse the narrow streets of Jinjiang’s heart: the Wudianshi Tradition Block, the ancient town that served as the starting point of the maritime Silk Road trade route.

 

“Our boys’ team went on the city tour earlier today,” Brandino said. “They came back and shared pictures with our team, so we got a little hint of what it will be like to be there tomorrow. We’ll have training in the afternoon, but we’re pretty excited about getting to see the old city as well.”

 Paulista University midfielder Kimberly Damares Brandino celebrates her first half goal with striker Bruna Calderon during the game against the University of Sydney as the Brazilians enter the semifinals undefeated in Jinjiang

 

 

OTTAWA STORM INTO SEMIFINALS

JINJIANG— In the Jinjiang Sports Centre, the 150-stong crowd barely had a chance to blink before the first goal was scored in the match between University of Ottawa (CAN) and College of Asian Scholars (THA).

In the second minute itself, there was a goal for Ottawa from No.7 Rickert-Hall Delaney Marie and that set the tone for the match. Just six minutes later, the Thai women equalised through a smart goal from No.10 Sudarat Chuchuen, who made the best of a few defensive gaps in Ottawa.

 

In the 20^th minute, another goal was set up by No.10 Mikayla Morton and fired in by No.5 Katherine Bearne. Then the opening game’s double goal scorer Emma Lefebvre came in on the action and also scored, making it 3-1 in the 28^th minute.

 

Even though the Asian Scholars came into the match in great form, on the back of two wins out of two games, their firepower fell a bit short in front of the Canadians. No.11 Sangrawee Meekham gave them brief hope in the second half with an astounding goal from more than thirty yards out, that brought the score to 2-3 but they were never able to catch up.

 

In fact, Ottawa sealed the deal with an 80^th minute goal from No.8 Angelina Gendreau and the final score was 4-2.

 

“I think our team played really well together,” said an elated Rickert-Hall Delaney Marie after the game. “Our chemistry has been working really well since past couple of games and we stuck to our tactics. That’s why we won.”

 

Looking ahead to the semi-finals, she added “We will just continue playing our game and we won’t change our game plan. That’s what has been working and we’ll continue to do that.”

 

The women’s semifinals and rankings matches now look like this: