England celebrate after Jack Rutter's wonder strike ensured victory over Ireland ©The FA

Two moments of individual brilliance helped hosts England to a 2-0 win over Ireland to ensure a fifth place finish on the penultimate day of the Cerebral Palsy Football World Championships at St George’s Park in Burton upon Trent 

These came after a worrying moment early on when Ireland's Paraic Leacy collapsed off the ball although.

Following an extended stoppage, he was able to leave the pitch unaided to a round of applause, as a fiercely contested match continued.

Given the closeness between the team, it was always going to take something unusual to split the teams.

After beating a number of men with a mesmerising run, Matthew Crossen chipped over opposing goalkeeper Simon Lestrange from a seemingly impossible position.

Ireland constantly probed the English defence but never created a clear chance.

Instead, it was the hosts who found the back of the net again after the break, with Jack Rutter curling in with an unstoppable shot from the corner of the box to make it 2-0 with his eighth goal of the Championships to ensure his team finished fifth. 

United States proved too strong for Argentina in the battle for seventh position ©CPFWC
United States proved too strong for Argentina in the battle for seventh position ©CPFWC

On a day of classification matches ahead of the gold and bronze medal encounters tomorrow, David Garza scored twice as the United States beat Argentina 4-1 in an ill-tempered game to ensure seventh place.

Seth Jahn and Adam Ballou added further goals in a match tarnished by the South American side's goalkeeper Gustavo Nahuelquin being sent-off for appearing to kick out at an opponent. 

Scotland won the battle for ninth position with a 5-3 extra-time victory over Canada in a match which had been 2-2 after the end of normal time.

The contest for 11th was even closer as Portugal required penalties to see off Australia following a 1-1 draw, while Venezuela took 13th position with a 1-0 win over Northern Ireland. 

Brazil will face The Netherlands for the bronze medal at 11:30am local time tomorrow before Ukraine take on Russia in a gold medal match.

It will be a repeat of the London 2012 Paralympic final won by the Russians.



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