England send Brazil packing

Kolkata: Rhian Brewster struck a sensational hat-trick, his second in as many matches, as England handed pre-tournament favourites Brazil a stunning 1-3 defeat to cruise into their maiden FIFA U-17 World Cup final here on Wednesday.

Brewster, who had scored a hat-trick in his side's 4-1 decimation of the USA in the quarterfinals on Saturday, scored in the 10th, 39th and 77th minutes in front of a shell-shocked 63,881 Brazil supporting partisan crowd here.

The triple strike took Brewster to seven goals, the highest in the tournament, and the Liverpool youth team player has once again shown that he is the best predator on show in the mega-event. This is the first time that a player has scored two hat-tricks in the same edition of a tournament.

Brazil, who were seeking their fourth title, were finally outwitted and outplayed by a more tactical and resilient side and they bowed out of the tournament with a heart-break.

In fact, England, who created history by reaching their maiden semifinals in their fourth appearances, were clearly the better side today as they did not allow Brazil to impose on them in the match, which was shifted out of Guwahati at the last minute due to poor playing conditions of the pitch following incessant rain.

England played an open game and had almost equal possession at 46 per cent and their attacking trio of Phil Phoden, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Brewster created a lot of problems for the Brazil defence, exposing their vulnerabilities for the second time after the Germany match.

England had five shot on target while Brazil had nine but the South American champions were uncharacteristically wayward and showed shyness before the goal at the Salt Lake Stadium.

The famous creativity of Brazil was not there to be seen as England had better domination of the midfield play. Pocket dynamo Alan did his bit as he was the fulcrum of most of the Brazil attacks but the final pass rarely came and even when it came, the strikers could not finish.

The Carlos Amadeu side had come with a lot of promise and wherever they had played -- in Kochi, Margao and here – they were the crowd's favourites but they will return heartbroken and empty handed. They met with a scare against Germany in the quarter-finals and had to rally from one goal down to win the match 2-1. But today there was no rally of that kind as England shut the game on them early.

Brazil had lost in the quarter-finals in the last edition in Chile in 2015. England were in front in the 10th match to the stunning silence of the partisan Brazil supporting crowd. Callum Hudson-Odoi did a fine job cutting in from the left flank and his pin-point cross was prodded towards goal by Brewster, who managed to stay onside.