ALL NATIONS CUP ROUND OF 16 WEEKEND CLOSES AS EIGHT TEAMS MOVE ON

With the All Nations Cup Championship in their sight, eight teams have moved past the Round of 16 and are now preparing for this week’s Quarterfinals and Semifinal games, which will be held at Tukwila’s Starfire Sports Complex.

After three intense days of soccer, Brazil, Bosnia, Colombia, Gambia, Mexico, Peru, Russia, and the USA have secured their spots in the All Nations Cup Quarterfinals that will talk place on July 25-26. The competition is fierce and each one of the teams has their hearts set on winning the All Nations Cup Championship on Championship Games Day, July 29.

Champonship Games Day will feature the All Nations Cup All Star Game at 1:00 pm, the Third Place Game at 3:00 pm and the Championship Match at 6:00pm Ending Championship Games Day will be a closing celebration with acclaimed Brazilian composer Jovino Santos Neto, as well as KEXP Dj Derek Mazzone.

But the Round of 16 Matches were not the only highlights of the weekend, the All Nations Cup Masters Tournament came to strong conclusion as Romania were crowned the Masters Champions after an hearts stopping 2 - 1 match with Iran.

The inaugural All Nations Cup Women’s Regional Tournament also completed this weekend in a surprising tie between the African and the Americas teams in the Women’s Regional Championship. But winning was not what it was all about anyway according to All Nations Cup Director Jessica Breznau, “the goal of the Women’s Regional is really to get women involved in soccer and to encourage cross-cultural interaction.”

This weekend All Nations Cup was host to more then 150 youth players, participating in the new All Nations Cup Youth Games. “The Youth Games have been ‘great successes,’ the kids have been having a great time, and hopefully we are making them a bit more aware of Seattle’s diverse community,” said Youth Coordinator Tafara Pulse.

All Nations Cup continues Tuesday July 25 with a Quarterfinal matches Mexico verses Colombia at 6:30 pm, and Brazil verses USA (a rematch of last years championship) at 8:30 pm. Quarterfinals continue on Wednesday, July 26 with Russia verses Gambia at 6:30 pm, and Peru verses Bosnia at 8:30 pm. Semifinals will take place on Thursday, July 27, and Championship Games day will be held on July 29.

ALL NATIONS CUP RESULTS - JULY 23, 2006

MASTERS SEMIFINALS
Romania 1, USA 0;
Iran 4, Fiji 1;

MASTERS FINAL
Romania 2, Iran 1

ROUND OF 16 RESULTS
Gambia 0, Ireland 0;
Japan 1, Mexico 0;
Russia 2, Colombia 1;
Cameroon 5, Tibet 0;
USA 1, Peru 2;
Great Britain 5, Djibouti 2;
Vietnam 3, Tanzania 5;
Brazil 2, Bosnia 0