Dallas Cup XXXII Super Group semifinals set for Friday

The final matchday of Dallas Cup XXXII Super Group play is in the books and the semifinals are all set for Friday evening at Pizza Hut Park.
6:00 Arsenal - Eintracht Frankfurt
8:00 FC Dallas - Tigres

Arsenal cruised to another comfortable victory on Wednesday finishing perfect in group action.  Roarie Deacon notched a pair of goals in the 3-1 win over Club Bolivar from Bolivia.  The Bolivians jumped out to a shock early lead, but Arsenal bossed the match.  The English side had a 2-1 lead at halftime and were rarely troubled in the second half.

FC Dallas also finished perfect in their three group matches.  On Wednesday they dispatched a feisty Japan U18 National Team.  FC Dallas got the dream start when in the 6th minute of play Bryan Leyva slipped a perfect ball in behind the Japan defense to the streaking Jonathan Top.  The Japan keeper raced out as Top touched the ball by him forcing the keeper to take out Top.  The referre made the easy call and sent off the Japan keeper forcing them to play basically the entire match with 10 men.  Top converted the penalty and FC Dallas were on their way.

Japan would earn their own penalty kick just before halftime evening the score at the break, but the FC Dallas pressure would be too much for the 10 men of Japan in the second half.  Japan would eventually break and FC Dallas had their 2-1 win.

The nightcap had a winner take all match between Tigres and Corinthians of Brazil.  It was a chippy game right from the start as it only took 32 seconds for the first yellow card to be shown.  Tigres scored in the 15th minute and absorbed the Corinthian pressure from there.  Tigres centerback Kevin Perez was spot on all night as he dealt with attack after attack.

Tigres had a player sent off with 30 minutes to play giving the Brazilians further resolve, but it was just not their night.  Corinthians earned several corner kicks and set pieces late in the match and Tigres dealt with everyone seeing the game out 1-0.

The most entertaining game of the day was Eintracht Frankfurt against Cortiba from Brazil.  Cortiba was wonderful on the ball as they bossed the midfield for long stretches.  The Germans only needed a draw and were quite content to sit in and look for counters.  And counter they did as they caught Cortiba several times on the break.  They got a bit of luck midway through the opening half as a Brazilian defender was fouled at the top of his own box.  The referee waved play on and Eintracht Frankfurt picked up the loose ball made one square pass to Okan Derici who had an easy finish.

The Brazilian protested the no-call in vain.  Derici would strike again later giving the Germans a seemingly comfortable 2-0 lead, but Cortiba would not go quietly.  They would strike twice in the span of 5 minutes and suddenly out of nowhere the game was tied 2-2 with 15 minutes to play.  The Brazilians were in full flight searching for the winner.  Well into stoppage time there would be more drama as Cortiba attacked in the German box.  A Cortiba forward popped the ball over a Frankfurt defender who quickly raised his arm to deflect the ball.  It was an obvious penalty. Somehow the referee dismissed the handball and the match ended a minute later.  Cortiba players mobbed the referee, but they were out of the tournament.