Argentina (men & women) easily outperformed its rivals in the semifinals. Brazil (men) and Uruguay (women) secured two historic wins and classified into the finals of the tournament.
Second day of competitions in Rosario. With ideal weather and a stadium full of fans, we knew that today was going to be a great day to enjoy great matches.
In the morning the last two group matches were played and during the afternoon we had men & women semifinals where the first of each pool was going to play against the fourth and the second of each pool was going to play against the third.
The final positions of both competitions made the morning games same as the semifinals crossovers but with different results!
To finish with the women's pool, Argentina won 14-0 against Paraguay and on the other hand Chile and Uruguay tied 2-2 in one of the most entertaining matches of the tournament.
On the men’s side, Argentina played against Bolivia, where they won 20-0 and Chile surpassed Brazil 3-1.
WOMEN'S SEMIFINALS
ARGENTINA v PARAGUAY: 13-1
The first semifinal of the afternoon was Argentina v Paraguay. It was a very similar match to the one played a few hours before: the Leoncitas came out to stomp and displayed all their physical and technical potential from the beginning of the match.
In the first ten minutes of play, 10 goals were scored, 9 from Argentina and 1 from Paraguay.
Paraguay was able to neutralize Argentina's attacks in the first 5 minutes of the second half, but could do nothing against the repeated attacks of the Leoncitas who scored 4 more goals and thus obtained their qualification for the final of the tournament.
URUGUAY v CHILE: 2-0
One of the most sensational matches of the day! Uruguay and Chile had faced each other a few hours before in the pool match in one of the most exciting matches of the day, and this match was not going to be far behind. Both teams knew what they had the chance to change the mistakes made in the previous match.
A very controlled start of the game, both teams managed controled the passing, and attack with numerical superiority but they could not open the scoring. Uruguay decided to take risks and that risk brought its results, Carolina Curcio opened the score and gave Uruguay the advantage. Immediately after the goal, Chile reacted and got a challenge in favor of his team but Manuela Servetto (Uruguayan goalkeeper), with a great performance, prevented that from happening.
The second half was very similar to the first. Lots of game control, lots of attacks… but no goals. With time running out and nerves getting tenser, Uruguay needed one more goal to be calm, and on the other hand Chile needed to look for a tie. Whoever managed to do it first was going to take control of the game. After an individual 1v1 play against the Chilean goalkeeper, Jacinta Curutchague was the one scoring the second goal of the match and giving Uruguay the qualification to the finals.
MEN'S SEMIFINALS
ARGENTINA v BOLIVIA: 23-0
The first men's semifinal was a real goal show.
Argentina wanted to impose their game, set the pace of the game and display all their technical and physical skills. Bolivia on the other hand, was aware of the rival's superiority and tried to defend their goal.
Argentina managed to capitalize on each of their attacks and scored 13 goals in just 10 minutes.
In the second half, Juan Gilardi’s team went for more and quickly imposed their game again. The match ended 23-0 and Argentina qualified for the championship final.
Beyond the result, Bolivia took advantage of the superior game performance of Argentina to gain international experience both at the collective and individual levels.
BRAZIL v CHILE: 2-0
In the last semi-final of the day, Brazil took note of their mistakes from the previous match with Chile and took a 2-0 victory.
The first half was very close but the Brazilians managed to score near to the end of the game and went into the break ahead.
The second half was just as hard-fought and although Chile had some opportunities to level the game, with just two minutes remaining Brazil buried their rival's hopes with the second goal.
During the final moments, Claudio Rocha’s team controlled the result and exploded with joy when they heard the final whistle. On Sunday, the dream of being able to beat Argentina in the final awaits.
