Sheffield United man Tahith Chong opened the scoring for Curaçao in their penultimate World Cup warm-up match.
Sheffield United winger Tahith Chong stepped up his World Cup preparations by scoring a fantastic individual goal for Curaçao in a 4-1 defeat to Scotland at Hampden Park on Saturday afternoon.
The former Manchester United man, who joined the Blades from Luton Town last August, signing a four-year deal at Bramall Lane, opened the scoring with 17 minutes on the clock to claim his third goal for his country.
After excellently taking control of a long ball inside the Curaçao half of the centre circle, Chong raced away from Scott McKenna, who was caught out by Armando Obispo’s long pass, and made his way into the penalty area before chopping inside onto his left foot, leaving John Souttar in a state of confusion, before beating Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon with a low drive.
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Although he struggled to make his mark in his debut season at United, it was just the sort of impact Chong would have dreamt of making in the first of two warm-up matches Curaçao will fulfil ahead of their World Cup opener against Germany in a fortnight’s time.
Despite taking the lead via Chong’s excellent solo goal, Curaçao saw the game flipped on its head after Jurgen Locadia was sent off for a stray forearm - a decision later criticised by Curaçao boss Dick Advocaat - with 38 minutes played. The first-time World Cup qualifiers were then pegged back just before half-time when Scotland equalised via Finlay Curtis.
Scotland then turned the game around after the break via two Lawrence Shankland goals in the space of just five minutes before Ryan Christie put the icing on the cake with nine minutes of normal time remaining with a goal from the penalty spot.
On the decision that saw Locadia sent for an early bath, Advocaat, who is now 78, said of referee Goga Kikacheishvili: “The first 50 minutes, he only whistled against us. If you are a good referee, then you can take him out and bring somebody else in. And now we have to wait and see what will happen for the World Cup.”
Chong, who made 22 appearances in his first season at Bramall Lane, and Curaçao will continue their World Cup preparations with a friendly against Aruba on June 7 ahead of travelling to the World Cup and facing Germany in their Group E opener on June 14.
As well as competing with Germany, the Caribbean nation will also take on Ecuador and the Ivory Coast in their group.
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