In Group D, Brazil and Ivory Coast took the top two places and in Group B, South Korea and New Zealand emerged. In Saitama, Brazil won 1-3 to the detriment of Saudi Arabia. Matheus Cunha (14th, 0-1) opened the scoring for the Seleçao but Abdulelah Al Amri (27th, 1-1) equalized for the Saudis. In the second half, the Brazilians made the difference by Richarlison (76th, 90th + 3). Thanks to this double, the Everton striker took the lead in the scorers’ standings with 5 goals.
Côte d’Ivoire needed a point against Germany to qualify and they got it (1-1). In Miyagi, the goals fell in the second half. The Ivorians opened the scoring with an autogoal from Benjamin Henrichs, the Leipzig midfielder (67th, 0-1) and the Germans equalized by Eduard Lowen (73rd). But this goal from the middle of Bochum did not help the Mannschaft to qualify.
In Group B, South Korea spared Honduras at Yokohama 6-0. The Taegeuk Warriors quickly laid the foundations for their success by converting two penalties by Ui-jo Hwang (12th, 1-0) and Du-Jae Won (19th, 2-0) Subsequently, the Asian team managed their lead all the more easily as the Honduran defender Carlos Melendez (38th) was excluded (38th). Well placed in the rectangle, the Bordeaux Ui-jo Hwang took advantage of a rebound to place the ball in the angle of the goal (45th + 5, 3-0). On the restart, the Honduran Christopher Melendez committed a penalty converted by Ui-jo Hwang (52nd, 4-0). This did not calm the ardor of the Koreans, who weighed down the score by Jin-Ya Kim (64th, 5-0) and Valencia winger Kang-In Lee (82nd, 6-0).
In Sapporo, the decisive duel between Romania and New Zealand ended in a scoreless division. With the two teams finishing tied, the New Zealanders took second place thanks to a better goal difference: 0 against minus 3 for the Romanians.
The outcome of groups A and C will be known this Wednesday afternoon.
