Author: Soorya G
Nigeria eliminated tournament hosts Argentina and Italy sent England home. Round of 16 results.
Favorites Brazil clinically overcame a challenge ahead of the quarterfinals from a resilient Tunisia team that had been quite impressive in the group stage of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina. The Seleção managed to beat the Tunisians convincingly, scoring four goals against a defenseless defense. The Brazilians played a whole half with a man down after Robert Renan was sent off before the break, but even that wasn’t enough to stop them from claiming a comfortable 4-1 win and progressing to the quarter-finals, setting up a clash against Israel, who got the better of Uzbekistan in a close game.
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Brazil went ahead early in the match when sloppy defending in the Tunisian penalty area led to a penalty for the Seleção. Marcos Leonardo made no mistake from the penalty spot, shooting straight down the middle past Arafoui. Sávio was fantastic for Brazil, getting into excellent positions on a regular basis and even creating attacking opportunities, one of which was wasted by Leonardo, who failed to anticipate his teammate’s cutback. Nevertheless, Biro set up Andrey Santos in the middle of the chaos and Brazil scored their second goal. Chaim El Djebali was free on goal and could have halved the deficit, but Renan brought him down and was shown the red card. Playing the entire second half in the minority, Brazil scored two more goals – in the 90+1 and 90+10 minutes. And 13 minutes into the second half, he gave his opponents the chance to score a “prestige goal”.
- Uzbekistan scored a goal, which was disallowed, and also hit the crossbar of Israel’s goal. But their opponents (who had also hit the post in the first half) managed to win 1-0 in the 97th minute. Anan Khalaili’s goal takes Israel to the quarter-finals
- With an overwhelming lead, the USA beat New Zealand 4-0. The Stars and Stripes scored three times in the second half to eliminate the Kiwis.
- Colombia were fantastic once again, dismantling the Slovakian defense, with Oscar Cortes and Tomas Angel scoring twice in the 5-1 win.
- After exchanging goals with England in the first half, Cesar Casadei was once again Italy’s best player, scoring from the penalty spot in the 87th minute. It’s his fifth goal of the tournament and England are on their way home.
- The tournament hosts, Argentina’s national team, unexpectedly lost 0-2 to Nigeria, losing in the 61st and 91st minutes.