Brazil knocked out defending champion Argentina 1-0 and Spain beat Colombia by the same score in the World Youth Championship Monday to set up a Brazil-Spain final.
Dudu's second-half header gave Brazil the win over archrival Argentina, while a penalty by FC Barcelona midfielder's Andres Iniesta in the 86th minute helped Spain reach the final.
Colombia and Argentina will battle for third place Friday.
PHOTO: AP
Following a scoreless yet entertaining first half, Brazil and Argentina started taking more chances in the second half.
Dudu connected well with Daniel's 65th-minute corner kick, and his header deflected off the head of opponent Osmar Ferreyra and into the net.
Argentina twice threatened to score in injury time, but Brazil scrambled in defense.
"I told my players before the game to be careful about Argentina, because they never give up," Brazil coach Marcos Paqueta said. "They play hard until the very end, so we had to keep going until the final whistle."
Paqueta's warning was justified. Argentina had twice won in extra time in the tournament, including in the quarterfinals against the US, when Argentina also scored a last-minute goal in regulation time.
"Our players are very disappointed, some are sitting in the locker room crying," Argentina coach Hugo Tocalli said. "It will be a very hard and tough job to build the team up mentally and spiritually [for the third-place game] after [such] a very important defeat.''
Brazil's Carlos Alberto and Argentina's Javier Mascherano and Mauricio Romero will miss Friday's games after picking up yellow cards, their second in two games.
The semifinal was the fifth time the South American giants had played each other at the World Youth Championship level, with Brazil's win giving it a 3-2 advantage.
Spain and Colombia played a much slower match, marred by some rough play which prompted Belgian referee Frank De Bleeckere to show three players from each side yellow cards.
Iniesta converted a penalty that De Bleeckere gave after he ruled that Colombia's Yulian Anchico handled the ball in the penalty area.
Spain's coach, Jose Ufarte, said his side deserved the win.
"It was a very hard and intense game, but I consider the result was fair. The only thing that is left is to beat brazil. The players dream about that match and I hope they are lucky in the final game," he said.
Ufarte said the Brazilians were a force to be reckoned with "but we have people ready to face any team at all. It will be a difficult game for both teams, but I hope we win."
Reinaldo Rueda, Colombia's coach, said Spain capitalized on one mistake, but blamed his team for "lacking definition."
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