Brazil 2 - Australia 1

Carlos Cesar was a contented coach after his Brazilian side clung to a 2-1 win over Australia, and Mali drew with Germany in the opening Group C games of the Fifa world under-17 championships in Christchurch.

"We are top of the group and the other two teams have drawn and lost two points. It's very good for us," Cesar said.

Defending champion Brazil's clash with Mali tomorrow is now shaping as the match of the group after the athletic Africans won the hearts of about 5000 fans at QEII Stadium yesterday.

Mali was held to a 0-0 draw by Germany after a brilliant goalkeeping exhibition from German goalkeeper Jan Schlosser.

Australia gifted two goals to the South Americans through defensive blunders.

But the Australians were unlucky not to be awarded a second-half penalty when substitute Joshua Kennedy was impeded by a Brazilian defender.

Veteran Australian coach Les Scheinflug had no doubt Polish referee Tomas Mikulski should have pointed to the penalty spot. "It was definitely a penalty. The defender held him down."

Scheinflug said Australia was left "staring down the gun barrel in a game we never should have lost.

"Brazil didn't really create many chances; we created more. And we had two chances to equalise an maybe even win the game in the final stages."

Cesar felt Brazil was "the better team", but said the "heavy pitch" was not suited to "Brazilian style" football.

Brazil had some sparkling players, including tall front-runner Souza and midfield playmakers Eduardo and Leo, but the Australian defence contained them for the first 30 minutes.

But a minute later, Marquinhos was left with a regulation tap-in from a corner after ball watching at the near post by two defenders. The Australians fell further behind after 67 minutes after Aaron Goulding, facing his own goal, turned in a corner his goalkeeper had failed to catch. Scheinflug described the howler as "a schoolboy mistake". But Australia staged a spirited recovery and Cesar admitted Brazil lost control of the game.

German-based striker Joseph Di Iorio led the line superbly as Australia dominated the final quarter. He helped set up the goal of the game in the 82nd minute when he nodded the ball on to Louis Brain, whose deep cross was met perfectly by substitute Dylan MacAllister.

Germany started strongly against Mali, with impressive central striker Florian Heller and Markus Feulner going close in the first spell. But the Africans did everything but score in the first half.


written by the Tony Smith