Striker Brenner struck twice as title favourites Brazil maintained their winning streak by outplaying Honduras 3-0 to set up a potentially high-octane quarter-final clash against Germany in the FIFA U-17 World Cup, in Kochi on Wednesday.
Seeking their fourth title, Brazil have been living up to the expectations by winning all their group matches and today they just brushed aside the challenge of Honduras with an overwhelmingly dominant display.
Brenner struck in the 11th and 56th minutes while Marcos Antonio scored the other goal in the 44th minute as Brazil notched up their biggest win of the tournament. They had beaten Spain (2-1), North Korea (2-0) and Niger (2-0) to top Group D.
With the crowd at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium overwhelming supporting the Brazilians, Honduras attack were few and far between though they hit the goalpost twice, once in each half.
Brazil will now travel to Kolkata to take on Germany in the quarters on October 22. Germany had produced a clinical performance while beating Colombia 4-0 in the pre-quarterfinals on October 16 in New Delhi.
Attacking midfielder Alan, who sat out of Brazil's final group game against Niger as a precautionary measure after receiving a yellow card in the previous match, returned today and set up the first goal for the South American champions.
He cut into the Honduras box from the right and had a one-on-one with Wesley before releasing the ball for Brenner to calmly slot it past the goalkeeper for his second goal of the tournament.
Brazil continued their domination with their quick passing and they had two chances very soon but Paulinho and Alan's shots were save by Honduras goalkeeper Alex Rivera in the 14th and 21st minutes.
Honduras were denied an equaliser against the run of play in the 32nd minute as Luis Palma's shot from a difficult angle on the right side of the box beat the goalkeeper but hit the upright.
Brazil doubled the lead just before half time with midfielder Marcos Antonio scoring his first goal of the tournament with a deft left footer off a beautiful Paulinho through a pass which sliced open the Honduras defence.
Honduras coach Jose Valladares brought in Kenneth Martinez and Joshua Canales after half time in search of goals but Brazil did not put their feet off the pedal and made the scoreline 3-0 in the 56th minute.
Wesley did all the spadework as he cut into the right side of the Honduras box and his tussle with a defender resulted to the ball landing nicely for Brenner to fire in an opportunistic strike for his second goal of the match and third of the tournament.
In the 70th minute, Honduras were again denied a consolation goal as Carlos Mejia hit the left post with a left-footed shot from outside the box.
Ghana down debutants Niger 2-0, face Mali in quarters
Two-time champions Ghana outplayed fellow Africans Niger 2-0 to enter the quarter-finals of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday.
Goals by captain Eric Ayiah -- off a penalty in the first half added time -- and substitute Richard Danso -- in the 90th minute -- helped Ghana win the rough Round of 16 game at the D Y Patil Stadium after dominating play almost right through.
Ghana will take on African champions Mali in a repeat of their continental qualifying event final on October 21 in Guwahati.
Debutants Niger, who lost to Ghana 5-6 on penalties in the African U-17 tournament in May, had to defend stoutly against the fleet-footed Ghana trio of captain Eric Ayiah, Edmund Arko-Mensah and Emmanuel Toko.
The losing team's hero was their goalkeeper Khaled Lawali who time and again came to his side's rescue to stop goal-bound shots with his agility and positional sense.
In fact, the excellent goal-keeping by Lawali and robust defending by the back four kept the two-time champions at bay for almost the entire first half, until they conceded a penalty in the added time.
Ayiah threw off his shadow after chasing a through ball into the penalty area on the right before he was tripped by his marker and central defender Farouk Idrissa.
Ayiah, already with two goals under his belt, converted the spot kick by making Lawali dive the other way as he found the right bottom corner of the net to give Ghana a 1-0 lead just before half-time was called.
The Ghanaian captain had posed constant danger with his speed and ball control and it needed all the skills of the central defenders Idrissa and Inousse Amadou to prevent him from scoring earlier in the half.
Barring a brief spell soon after play started when they attacked a bit without posing any real danger to their rivals, Niger were busy defending their area. The entire Ghana team, barring goalkeeper Danad Ibrahim, were seen in the rival half in an attempt to breach their opponents' defense.
Ghana continued to hold sway in the second half, although they lost defender Bismark Owusu because of an injury.
The agility of Lawali kept them from increasing the lead early on when the Niger keeper leapt to his right and put out a left-footed essay from Toku for a corner.
Ghana's two Mensahs then let the ball sail over from close range off each other's feeds. Defender Gideon Mensah blasted the ball from inside the six-yard box after being fed by Arko Mensah with a through ball and a short while later the boot was on the other foot as the latter headed over the bar a corner taken by the former.
Ayiah also missed a golden chance to score his second goal of the match and fourth of the competition from the penalty spot. His attempted placement to the bottom right corner was guessed correctly by Lawali who dived to his left and blocked the shot.
The penalty was awarded when Toku was brought down on the right side of the box by Niger's Farouk Idrissa.
But Ghana were not to be denied their second goal, which came from a peach of an effort, off a long range shot by substitute Richard Danso who unleashed a right-footer that went past the palms of a leaping Lawali to bulge the net.
Danso scored immediately after replacing Toku just before the end of 90 minutes of play.
