West Ham U21’s lost to Brazilian side Atletico Paranaense 6-5 on penalties after the ICGT tournament final in Holland remained goalless after 60 minutes.
Both teams reached the final after penalty shoot outs in their semifinals. The Hammers beat Panathinaikos whereas Atletico Paranaense overcame local side AZ Alkmaar.
The final was played over two halves of 30 minutes each. The first half was a high speed game without too many chances for either side. West Ham new boy, Antonio Martinez had the best chance and almost scored with a header from a free kick, but the Brazilian goalkeeper made the save and so it ended 0-0 at half time.
In the second half no one managed to score, and so the Tournament final was decided by a penalty shoot out. Aftrr the first series of 5 penalties the score stood at 4-4 with both teams missing one each. After moving to 5-5 on penalties, the seventh penalty from Hammer Declan Rice was saved. Atletico Paranaense converted their final penalty to be crowned winners of the ICGT 2016 Tournament in Holland.
Looks like we need to sign some youth prospects from Germany, that should sort out our ability to win penalty shootouts in future…:-))
Unlucky lads our academy lads also lost in a final last week. The good news is we are making finals. Lets hope the first team catch on. COYI X
Well done on getting to the final boys can only make us stronger with great youth coming through !!!