Wolfsburg proceeds into semifinals as Real Madrid, Benfica kicked out

Germany' s VfL Wolfsburg U-19 team secured a berth in the Weifang Cup semifinals after beating China' s Shandong Luneng youth team 2-1 in their last Group B game here Wednesday, while Spain' s Real Madrid and Portugal' s Benfica both suffered defeats and can only fight for the fifth place of the tournament.

Having achieved one victory and one defeat in the two previous games, defending champions Wolfsburg cannot afford a loss to Shandong Luneng if they want to proceed into the knock-out stage.

The German side' s pressing attacks had confined Luneng within the defense area throughout the first half and had virtually no chance to threaten the goal of the defending champions.

Wolfsburg took the lead in the 41st minute as Jan Neuwirt' s cannon shot receiving an assist from teammate Yari Otto hit Luneng' s defender and deflected into the net.

Wolfsburg' s speedy dribbling continued to cause troubles to Luneng' s defense line when the second half kicked off, but their poor crossings had prevented Luneng from conceding another goal too early.

However, the Chinese finally paid the price of failing to give enough pressure to their opponents in the 55th minute when Richmond Tachie, who had achieved the most satisfactory results in physical trainings according to statistics provided by the team, scored the second goal after running past several defenders on the left wing.

As time passed by, levelling the score seemed impossible for Luneng, who played without clear tactics and who were overwhelmed by a Wolfsburg side who held the advantage both technically and physically. They only scored a face-saving goal at the 73rd minute from Song Hua' s free-kick.

Wolfsburg coach Thomas Reis said although his team wasted a lot of chances, they still seized two of them to clinch the win that they deserved.

"Our next game against the Brazilian team will be very different," he said. "Today we played fast on the two sides but the crossings were not good enough to threaten the goal, and that' s where we should improve and hopefully play better in the next game."

Luenng coach Fan Xuewei said his players will not lose spirit after the defeat and they gained experience from the game.

Wolfsburg will face Desportivo Brasil, which emerged from Group A after three consecutive wins, in the semifinals on Thursday.

Meanwhile on another pitch, Japan' s Kashima Antlers beat the U.S. team Fort Lauderdale Strikers 1-0 to wrap up their group stage games with three wins. They will play China U-19 in the semifinals.

In Group A, Real Madrid lost 1-4 to Desportivo Brasil while Benfica were defeated 2-0 by China U-19. The two of them will be joined by Shandong Luneng and Fort Lauderdale Strikers to play yet another two rounds to decide the rankings from the fifth place to the eighth. Endit