BOCA JUNIORS beat Manchester United 1-0 at Springfield last night, to stretch ahead in the Jersey U21 Football Tournament 2004..
MARCOS MONDAINI - remember the name.
The Boca Juniors left winger is truly something special.
He scored the only goal of the game with a tap-in after an hour in front of a crowd of about 1,500 at Springfield to sink Manchester United last night.
But it was his all-round performance that was unforgettable.
The young Argentinian mesmerised at times.
His skill, trickery and eye for goal prompted memories of another former Boca Juniors hero, a certain Diego Maradona.
The World Cup of 2006 in Germany will probably come too early for Mondaini but unless something happens that slows or stops his career progression, then he surely must be in the Argentina team that heads for South Africa in 2010.
Ably supported up front by the very tricky Ariel Colzera on the right and Lucas Jara in the middle, Mondaini tormented the United defence from first minute to last.
After ten minutes, he tried an audacious overhead kick that just missed United goalkeeper Tom Lee’s left hand post.
And that was his third attempt, having created two earlier chances.
The win was Boca’s second of the tournament following a 4-0 drubbing of Japan and they are now certainties to at least contest Tournament honours in Sunday’s final match against Celtic.
Last night’s scoreline should have been similar but a combination of bad luck and great goalkeeping kept United’s youngsters in touch throughout.
To be fair to the United boys, the game against Boca was their second in 24-hours having lost 3-2 to Celtic on Wednesday.
They were also understrength because a couple of players were with the first team at a match in England.
It was probably no surprise, then, that the Red Devils’ players who shone were defenders.
That was due to the amount of pressure they soaked up.
United’s big No 4, Belgian Floribert Mgalula looked a class act.
He read the game superbly and always seemed to have that extra split second to pick out the right pass.
He continually tried to play the game the right way.
Many players of his size and stature would have been more inclined to hoof clearances 70 yards upfield but Mgalula always tried to play short slick passes.
United coach Ricki Sbragia said the team was set up to try and take the sting out of Boca.
‘We were looking to sneak one and shut up shop.
Technically, they were a very good team and you have to give them credit because they were very skilful,’ he said.
For the first 20 minutes United hardly got a kick as Boca stroked the ball around majestically.
It was about the 35th minute before United forced a meaningful chance when a cross was cleared high from the Boca box.
Meanwhile, the front three Boca players were combining to cause all sorts of problems although the United defence maintained its shape and discipline to keep the se-ors at bay.
The frustration of one or two of the Red Devils started to show in their tackles and challenges.
Cooper came very close to scoring just before half-time when a curling shot hit the crossbar with goalkeeper Diego Pave beaten all ends up.
The match had been played in a good spirit until then but there was immediately a flare up involving Cooper and Boca central defender Matias Cahais that resulted in yellow cards for both players from referee Andy Penn.
The second-half started with Boca immediately on the attack and two good efforts from Jara, the second of which was saved superbly by Lee.
The only goal came on the hour mark.
Boca forced two consecutive corners.
The second was cleared to the feet of Matias Rodriguez who picked out Mondaini and he slotted it home from about five yards.
The match tempo lifted but United still couldn’t make an impact upfront.
In the 68th minute Colzera was close to coverting following a beautiful flowing move.
United tried to turn things round by trying to get half-time substitute Sylvain Eubanks-Blake, who scored twice against Celtic, into the match.
However, even the appearance of Mads Timm - who played in a Champions League game for the first team last season - made little difference to the pattern.
The last ten minutes was frantic stuff as United did what they could to get the equaliser and Boca pushed for the second.
Colin Heath went close for United from a free-kick inside the D at the edge of the box but his effort was just over.
Probably the best moment came as injury time loomed.
Mondaini picked up the ball about 40 yards from goal.
It seemed to be stuck to his feet as he ghosted his way past two defenders into the box.
As he shaped to shoot, he was unceremoniously brought down by goalkeeper Lee and a penalty was the inevitable outcome.
But Lee was then the United hero as he saved well with his legs from Mondaini’s effort.
Boca manager Jorge Benitez said afterwards that the match was great experience for his team as they had the chance to play against a different type of style.
‘It was physical and there is more long ball to contend with than we usually face.
It was a good test,’ he said.
Manchester United: Tom Lee, Phil Picken, Floribert Mgalula, Lee Lawrence, David Fox, Richard Jones, David Poole, Ramon Calliste, Ben Collett, Kenny Cooper, Marcus Neumayr.
Subs: Colin Heath, Sylvain Eubanks-Blake, Mads Timm.
Boca Juniors: Diego Pave (G), Ezequiel Vicente, Emiliauo Fusco, Matias Rodriguez, Fernando Gago, Matias Cahais, Ariel Colzera, Victor Galarza, Lucas Jara, Elequiel Scarione (Armando Monteverde), Marcos Mondaini.
Subs: Mariano Arnulto, Enzo Gutierrez, Eduardo Casias, Rodolto Gonzalez, and Bernardo Gagnolo.
Officials: Referee Andy Penn (Wolverhampton) assisted by Andy Cox and Andy Norman.
Article posted on 6th August, 2004 - 12.00am
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