Ukraine (3) v (3)* Brazil

By Dhugal Bedingfield

DU has fired Brazil to a seventh place finish at the Homeless World Cup in a dramatic penalty shoot-out against Ukraine.

In a pulsating clash on Yarra Pitch the dazzling Du proved to be the difference between the two sides, entertaining the capacity crowd with his quick feet and clinical finishing.

Ukraine are no easy beats and although Brazil enjoyed much of the possession in the opening stages they couldn't find a way past Ukraine's disciplined defence.

Dede finally opened the scoring for the Brazilians but it was cancelled out immediately by Ukrainian hard man Oleksandr Ganko.

Du came off the bench to give Brazil a 2-1 half time lead, lashing the ball home from distance.

He continued in the same way after the break when he amazingly dribbled past the entire Ukraine defence only to be denied by Oleg Dukhnov in goals.

Ukraine's approach was more structured. They relied on quick ball movement and stout defending and at times the game progressed like a chess game.

Both keepers traded penalty saves, the aptly named Brazilian keeper Diego using his own hand of God to tip over a shot from Ganko.

When Du slotted home a penalty the game looked over for Ukraine but amazingly Ganko pulled back two quick goals to bring the match to penalties, the second an awesome flick into the top corner in the dying seconds.

There was confusion at the final whistle, the scoreboard reading 3-2 to Brazil but the referee assured everyone that the correct score was 3-3 and that the result would be decided on penalties.

Unfortunately the Ukrainian hero Ganko couldn't convert his penalty kick and it was left to Du to seal seventh place for Brazil with an unstoppable shot into the top corner.

Photos: Photoworx