A super-strike by FC Barcelona's young star Bojan Krkic takes Spain to U-17 World cup final, but sheds tears as he is shown a red card and will miss the finals as well as the opportunity to be the top scorer.
Bojan Krkic simply showed why he is rated so highly. The goal machine struck in extra time to give Spain a 2-1 victory over Ghana in the U-17 World Cup Semi-final match in Korea. The match lived up to its billings as previous encounters between Ghana and Spain in the U-17 category has always been fierce. Ghana dominated the early part of the game, and looked the more likely team to go ahead, missing chances from Sadick Adams and Ransford Osei. The skillfull Black Starlets of Ghana were however well curtailed by the very technical approach Spain adopted to the game. The two sides displayed great skill, with Spain's Camacho, Merida and Aquino all displaying well and always looking for a chance to slip passes to Bojan who always looked very dangerous and attracted loud cheers from the adoring Korean fans whenever he touched the ball.
The first half ended goalless with possession almost shared and statistics showing equality. The second half saw a stronger Spain, as unsettled the Ghanaians more often. Spain finally got ahead in the 64th minute after a blinding shot off a perfect pass and a slight melee. Ghana came back forcefully and forced close saves from Spain's David De Gea. Sadick Adams, who was clearly the most dangerous man for Ghana finally struck for the West Africans with a specatcular finish off a quickly taken free-kick in the 80th minute. With honours shared, the match went into extra time.
It was time for Bojan to step up and distinct himself from the rest. The talented FC Barcelona striker created great chances and earned a penalty that wasn't awarded after being pulled down in the Ghanaian box. Bojan Krkic returned in the 116th minute with one of the most intelligent goals of the championship. The young one tip-toed away from his Ghanaian markers just when a Spanish free-kick was about to be played at the egde of Ghana's area. As the free-kick was played, Bojan's tip-toe became a lightning speed dash away from the entire crowd in the Ghanaian six-yard box, and the Barca star latched unto the well laid ball to swirl round with a side footed shot that sailed through a crowd of eight players and into the Ghanaian net. The show was over.
The stadium went into rupture, as the adoring fans could hardly contain their joy. However, it seeemd the centre referee was not happy with Bojan. The referee, who had consistently been harsh against the Spanish star, even flashing him with a yellow card earlier, finally issued Bojan Krkic a red card for what the referee termed as a second bookable offence. There was completely no justification for this, as the referee accussed Bojan of intentionally letting the ball touch his leg after he had blown for a Ghanaian free kick in the 120th minute !! This was just 30 seconds to the end of the game.
The red card doused the celebration of Spain. As the centre referee ended the match 30 seconds after the red card was shown, the entire Spanish squad rushed out to him in protest, including a tearful Bojan Krkic. The linesmen and some officials tried to wade off the angry Spanish squad. Though the situation was finally brought under control, the damage had already been done. Bojan Krkic, even though having taken Spain to the U-17 World Cup final, will have to miss out of the great event, when Spain play either Nigeria or Germany in the final match on Sunday, 9th September. Nigeria and Germany will play the second semi-final match tomorrow, 6th September, to determine who meets Spain in the 2007 FIFA U-17 world cup final match.
