13 Feb 2015
Doha, 13 February 2015. After an exciting game that ended in a 2-2 draw in regular time, a penalty shoot-out had to decide about the winner of the placement game between Aspire International and River Plate on Thursday: While Aspire’s Becerra, Gnaka and Alisic missed their shots, the Argentinians showed nerves of steel and eventually won the game 5-2.
“Despite today’s defeat I have to say that the last few weeks have been a great experience for all of us. We met as a group of strangers with the objective to face some of the world’s best under-17 teams. In the short period of time and despite difficulties to communicate we grew together as a team and showed some strong performances. I want to thank every single one for the great effort and hope the players take a lot of good memories back home,” said Aspire International-coach Joao Carlos Pereira. In their last game of the tournament Aspire International will be facing Aspire Academy in the seventh place match on Saturday at 3:35pm.