22nd ANC 2007 Day 7 Report

The 22nd All Nations Cup reached the Quarter-final stages on Saturday at Egan Lee Reserve.

In the first match of the day Australia met Scotland in what promised to be a tight encounter.

For the first half hour Scotland dominated proceedings but found themselves a goal down. Australia was penned in its own half for long periods as the Scotland midfield exerted a stranglehold on the game. It therefore, came as a major surprise when they went a goal down with the Australians first shot on target. The ball came across from the left and found its way to Lojanica who squeezed home a shot between a crowd of players.

This was the wake up call that Scotland needed. O’ Donnell restored parity shortly afterwards with a clever header and Greechan put the Scots in the lead after 36 minutes. Nick Veljovic had made a great goal line stop to keep the first shot out and despite his despairing dive the second effort just beat him into the corner of the net.

Scotland increased their lead midway through the second half when Armour converted a penalty and Greechan nabbed his second to make the game safe.

Scotland play the winner of Poland versus Macedonia in next Sunday’s semi finals at 1.00

The second match was a tight affair that was decided by two glorious goals and two appeals for penalties which were both waved away by the referee.

Mauritius and Bosnia were locked nil all at the interval as neither side was able to make a decisive break. Bosnia had a penalty appeal turned down when the ball appeared to strike Valladon’s hand. Whether it was intentional was debatable.

In the second half, Mauritius took the lead with a fine strike from Valladon. The game then turned on two incidents within a minute. Bosnia was deep in attack and the ball was squared across the face of goal. A Mauritian hand looked suspiciously close to stopping a Bosnian shot. The ball was cleared upfield and Salcin came out of his area to clear the ball. It went close to the halfway line where Ludovic Boi returned it first time from 45 metres over the head of all players and the ball bounced six metres from goal hit the underside of the crossbar and nestled into the net. Thus, Bosnia’s anguish at the denied penalty was compounded.

Mauritius will meet the winner of Serbia versus Chile in the 3.00 semi final next Sunday.