BUENOS AIRES (AP) – Uruguay has kept the South American flag high at the U20 World Cup. La Celeste defeated the United States 2-0 in the quarterfinal match played in Santiago del Estero on Sunday. Their opponent in the semi-finals will be Israel in the competition to be held in Argentina.
The dream of South Korea also lives on. Hours earlier, at the same Madre de Ciudades stadium, the Asian team beat Nigeria 1–0 after extra time and earned a ticket to face Italy in the other semi-final.
Uruguay was clearly the better of the United States and won after 21 minutes with goals from Anderson Duarte and Joshua Vander on 56.
The next hurdle for Marcelo Broli’s team, in La Plata on Thursday, will be the surprise selection of Israel, who knocked out iconic Brazil in the quarter-finals in their first World Cup participation.
Prior to the European representative, Celeste would like to enter an ecological final of the category in third place, after losing to Malaysia 1997 and Turkey 2013.
The United States arrived in Santiago del Estero ahead of the meeting with excellent numbers: four wins in as many games, ten goals for and none against. But Mickey Varas’s team could impose their pace and association game in the first quarter of an hour itself.
From then on, an orderly and disciplined Uruguay imposed conditions. And he began to rebalance the attacking left flank with Juan Cruz de los Santos as the main card.
The River Plate player assisted Duarte in a 1–0 draw and was the hero of a play that ended with Vander’s own goal.
Broly’s team, the only representative still alive from South America, knew how to handle the process and suffered almost no setbacks against the CONCACAF champions.
Earlier, defender Choi Seok-hyun’s header from a corner kick in the fifth minute of extra time sealed a 1-0 win over Nigeria and put Yoon-Jung Kim’s side – the only remaining undefeated in the tournament – ​​into the round of 16. . best four.
Against Italy, also on Thursday in La Plata, South Korea will look to reach their second consecutive final in the category, after Poland lost to Ukraine in the match for the World Cup title in 2019.
Meanwhile, Nigeria – who eliminated hosts Argentina in the round of 16 – remained on the road in their intention to reach the final of the U20 World Cup for the third time in history – having lost in 1989 and 2005). Furthermore, with their loss, Africa no longer has representatives in the tournament.
The Madre de Ciudades Stadium in Santiago del Estero was the scene of a match that was unwelcome by local fans. The Nigerians held off Argentina to set up a face-off with the South Koreans on Wednesday, who in turn upset Ecuador, another South American team, in the round of 16.
And unlike previous quarterfinal matches, South Korea and Nigeria not only failed to lead each other in regulation 90s, they were also boring.
It is clear that both the South Koreans and the Nigerians are often at their best when playing against each other. And they mutually knew how to neutralize that power of the opponent.
As a result, zero qualified the duo’s poor performance during regulation time, beyond the fact that Nigeria had more ball control.
Facing extra time, it remained to be seen who would be more physically rested to face another 30 minutes at this point in a tournament that was already too demanding due to little rest between games.
Choi’s goal in extra time sealed the game. South Korea then defended the ball. Nigeria had two very clear chances to drag the contest to a penalty shootout, but both Umeh Emmanuel missed the target.
The Argentine public in the stands, of course in favor of South Korea, celebrate the Asians’ passports as a way of settling accounts with the host team’s executioner.
