the first classified to the quarterfinals were known; one crushed his rival

This Tuesday, May 30, the Under-20 World Cup, which takes place on Argentine soil, opened the curtain on the round of 16 with two duels that left emotions running high. In the early hours, the United States faced New Zealand, while later Israel, Colombia’s rival in Group C, did the same with Uzbekistan.

In the exciting matches played in the city of Mendoza (western Argentina), the Americans and the Israelis secured their place in the quarterfinals of the U-20 World Cup. These two teams became the first classified to advance to the next stage of the tournament.

In the duel between the Americans and the Oceanics, the northerners advanced to the next round after crushing their rival 4-0. The authors of the goals were Owen Wolff, at minute 14 of the game, Cade Cowell at 61, Justin Che widened the gap to 75 and Rokas Pukstas closed the humiliation at 82.

Thus, the Americans remain firm in the World Cup dream, where they seek to surpass their best performance in this contest, which was in 1989 when they finished fourth.

On the other hand, Israel achieved a victory as historic as it was agonizing at the expense of Uzbekistan, which they beat 1-0 when the match already seemed to lead to extra time.

The match was resolved in added time in a cross from the right, when Anan Khalaili (90+7) captured a rebound and sent the ball into the back of the net, to unleash the euphoria of Israel, whose World Cup qualification generated rejection for reasons policies of Indonesia, the original venue of the tournament, and for which the World Cup moved to Argentina.

A rookie at the Under-20 World Cup, Israel enjoys a historic participation, which included a surprise qualification as guard in Group C, behind Colombia and after eliminating Japan and Senegal.

Colombia plays its cards

Last Saturday, May 27, the Colombian U-20 team played its last match in group C of the World Cup in the category against its counterpart from Senegal. La Tricolor reached this third game already classified to the round of 16, after their victories against the teams of Israel and Japan.

The match was played at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium, formerly called the Estadio Único de La Plata, a sports venue that was in a terrible state after all the matches that have been played for the Youth World Cup.

Finally, a draw was enough for the Tricolor to stay with the leadership of group C and get one of the tickets to the round of 16 of the tournament where they will face New Zealand.

The Slovaks finished in third place in Group B with 3 points from their 4-0 win over Fiji. In their two previous matches, the European team lost 2-0 to the United States and 2-1 to Ecuador. Next Wednesday’s match will be held at the Bicentenario stadium in San Juan.

Faced with the challenge that is coming against the European team, the helmsman of the Colombian National Team, Héctor Cárdenas, stated: “The group is prepared and we know what we are going to play for ourselves, that these matches are a final that is played to the death.” .

“The group is very focused and we are going to look for the score to go through to the next round. Reaching the quarterfinals is what this team wants”, concluded the Tricolor strategist.

Schedule and results of the round of 16

(All times are in Colombian time)