Alecburgh Deals Blow to EC in World Cup Quarterfinals

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by Wildar Valerso
DABATTA - East Chanchajilla's national football team fell in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Kossmil to the underdog Alecburgh team, who solidified a 1-0 lead early in the game and maintained a stiff defense that E.C. was unable to break. With the loss, East Chanchajillans went home from their packed bars and restaurants in droves, a sign of the dissapointment in failure to reach their first semifinals round since 2001, which was the same year they won the championship last.

Alecburgh took lead by breaking from a EC corner in the 31st minute, with one player arrowing a right foot drive across Damián Pozo and into the left corner of the net from the edge of the penalty area after Ismael Gilabert collected the ball, turned and embarked on a 40-yard run with a pass at the end to free Alecburgh. EC's third change nearly yielded a goal three minutes and 14 seconds after introduction, with forward Diego Campos gliding between two Alecburghian defenders to nod a flicked header past a second defender but catching the cross, denying a goal. The game remained scoreless for the rest of the game.

The loss came as a heartbreak to legendary EC player Óscar Pinto, who was a member of the World Cup-winning 1987 team watching from his home in Vilanja.

"I'm proud of our boys," he said, "but all is fair and we will be back, I am sure of it."

East Chanchajilla made it into the World Cup qualifiers two months ago where they beat out Austrolis in a 3-1 early match and a tied second game, leading to their advance. The knockout stage yielded a Group of 32 victory over the favored New Elkland and a Group of 16 match against Tine. East Chanchajilla's offense was sturdy in both games, and narrow victories by the Alecburghish teams led many to believe a EC-Alecburgh game would be an easy route.

However, the Alecburghish defense proved too formidable for the East Chanchajillans, whose speed on the field became their undoing as the players were chopped into sections across the court by the defense. Additionally, the EC defense did not recover until the second half of the match, which allowed an early breakaway by Alecburgh to take the lead, and a stalemate to follow.

"We'll be back next year," head coach Ezequiel López said. "We know what the problems were now that we've seen it, and we'll recover from it."