Cairo - Brazil needed a wonder-strike from Alan Kardec to eventually overcome a resilient Costa Rica 1-0 in their Under-20 World Cup semi-final encounter Tuesday in Cairo. The four-time winners will now meet Ghana in Friday's final after the African champions defeated Hungary 3-2 in the other semi-final thanks to a brace from tournament top scorer Dominic Adiyiah.
Costa Rica went down 5-0 to the Selecao in their opening group encounter and only had one clear chance in the match, which came after quarter of an hour when Brazil goalkeeper Rafael had to be at his best to tip over a well struck free-kick from David Guzman.
However, with Los Ticos happy to sit back and try take Brazil on the break, chances were also at a premium for the favourites in the first half with the best chance falling to Alex Teixeira, but the midfielder steered a weak header into the arms of Esteban Alvarado.
Paulo Henrique was the first to test Alvarado in the second half but his shot was easily saved by the Costa Rican goalkeeper while Souza saw a goal-bound shot blocked on 53 minutes as Brazil continued to press.
In the end, it needed a piece of magic on 67 minutes from Kardec, who rifled in an unstoppable shot from the acutest of angles, to ensure the 1-0 win.
Earlier, two first-half strikes from Adiyiah helped Ghana to victory over Hungary, his first coming after 10 minutes thanks to a defensive howler in the Hungarian defence.
A woefully underhit backpass from Adam Presinger was easily intercepted by Andre Ayew, who rounded Hungary goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi before crossing for Adiyiah to poke home from a metre out.
Ayew and Ransford Osei both tested Gulacsi with shots from the edge of the area before Adiyiah netted his second of the match and eighth of the tournament just after the half-hour mark, heading home a Samuel Inkoom cross from close range.
Adiyah almost netted his hat-trick five minutes before the break but his shot went just wide of the upright.
A tired looking Hungary certainly appeared to be feeling the effects of extra-time victories over the Czech Republic and Italy in their previous two matches and the Magyars also clearly missed the services of suspended midfield organizer and captain Vladimir Koman.
Roland Varga and Adam Balajti came on for Presinger and Nemeth for the second half and although Hungary started well, Ghana slowly began to re-exert control with Inkoom causing no end of trouble down the flank.
Hungary made a last roll of the dice with 20 minutes remaining, with Marko Futacs coming on for Zsolt Korcsmar, and the move paid immediate dividends as the Werder Bremen striker slotted home an Andras Simons cross on 73 minutes to make it 2-1.
Andras Gosztonyi could have equalized two minutes later but he blasted over while shortly afterwards Janos Szabo headed wide with the goal gaping.
However, with time running out, Hungary pushed more and more men forward and were caught on the break on 81 minutes when Abeiku Quansah produced a clinical finish to make it 3-1 to Ghana.
Balajti reduced the deficit to 3-2 with six minutes remaining but the Black Satellites held on to remain on course to become the first African country to win the U-20 tournament.
