Europeans miss out on final

The European challenge to win the FIFA U-17 World Championship ended at the semi-final stage on Thursday night in Peru, but while the Netherlands fell to a 4-0 defeat by Mexico, nine-man Turkey were denied in a seven-goal thriller against holders Brazil.

Brazil streak ahead
It seemed European champions Turkey were out of their game in Trujillo at half-time when Brazil held a 3-0 lead. After just 13 seconds the Brazilians were ahead when Anderson pounced on a loose ball and set up Celso to score. Anderson had already hit the crossbar when he scored himself on 26 minutes with a great solo effort, and Marcelo made it three in the 32nd minute when his angled shot deflected in off Turkey goalkeeper Volkan Babacan. Turkish captain Erkan Ferin was sent off after a second yellow card just before the break, but his side emerged transformed following the interval.

Turkey level
Just two minutes into the second half Nuri Sahin set up Caner Erkin to pull one back with his tournament joint-leading fourth of the tournament, and the BV Borussia Dortmund midfielder was provider again when his free-kick was headed in on 69 minutes by Tefvik Köse, the 2005 UEFA European Under-17 Championship top scorer also taking his competition tally to four. With 15 minutes left Nuri's angled lob floated in to level the scores.

Igor winner
However, with extra time looming in the 90th minute, Anderson broke into the Turkish box and squared for Igor to win the game and keep alive Brazil's hopes of winning the tournament for the fourth time in five editions. Serdar Kesçi was then dismissed for a lunge deep into added time.

'Fantastic match'
Turkey coach Abdullah Avci said: "I have to congratulate my team for their part in a fantastic match. We ran out of luck right at the end. We were knocked out of our stride by letting in a goal so early, and we looked disorganised in the first half, but we did everything right in the second half."

Depleted Dutch
His team now have a European final rematch with the side they beat 2-0 in Italy in May, the Netherlands, in Lima on Sunday for third place, just before the final. The Dutch, without suspended Jordy Buijs and injured captain Dirk Marcellis in Chiclayo, had Mike van der Kooij taken off hurt in the opening stages and fell behind to the Mexicans on 33 minutes through César Villaluz's strong shot. Héctor Moreno headed a second in the 50th minute after a clever free-kick move.

Mexico prevail
Villaluz ran on to a Giovani dos Santos pass just after the hour to increase the lead and Ever Guzman completed the scoring in added time. Dutch coach Ruud Kaiser said: "Mike's injury was the straw that broke the camel's back. After that, they opened the scoring and it was all over."