FIFA U20 World Cup: Flying Eagles ready for South Korea in Sunday’s Q-final clash

Africa’s only remaining team at the ongoing FIFA U20 World Cup, Nigeria’s Flying Eagles will, Sunday evening, tackle their South Korean counterparts, for a place in the semi-finals of the competition.

Already, the Flying Eagles have arrived in the city of Santiago Del Estero ahead of the quarter final clash with South Korea.

The Flying Eagles reached the quarter finals after shocking host country, Argentina by 2-0, last Wednesday night.

The Sunday evening match is billed for the Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades, Santiago del Estero, 6:30pm Nigerian time.

South Korea defeated Ecuador 3-2 , last Thursday, to reach the quarter finals.

It will be the third meeting between both countries at this level.

The South Koreans defeated Nigeria 2-1 in their first meeting in Netherlands 2005, while the Flying Eagles won 1-0 at the 2013 edition in Turkey.

The Flying Eagles are now Africa’s remaining representatives in the competition after the exit of The Gambia in the Round of 16, last Thursday.

The Gambia were eliminated after a 1-0 loss to Uruguay despite topping their group ahead of South Korea and France, and had hoped to upset the South American giants, Uruguay.

Aside Ghana U20 team which won the championship in 2009, no other African side have clinched the FIFA youth World Cup trophy.

The Ladan Bosso-coached Flying Eagles have so far defeated two tournament favourites; Italy and Argentina, to reach this stage of the competition, as they look to reach the semi finals if they beat South Korea who are no strangers to African teams having previously played The Gambia in the group stage.

Meanwhile, earlier, Saturday, Israel shocked favourites, Brazil out of the tournament with a 3-2 victory secured in extra time to book a place at the semi finals.

Brazil had emerged surprise table toppers ahead of Nigeria and Italy on the last day of Group D matches after beating the Flying Eagles 2-0 and Italy whipping the Dominican Republic by 3-0, leaving the Nigerian team barely managed to qualify as third best, after all three teams finished on six points each.

Israel pulled the biggest shock at the ongoing tournament in Argentina, knocking out favorites and five-time winner, Brazil, after equalizing twice and scoring the winner in the 105^th.

The two sides played out 1-1 on duration time, which necessitated an extra-time, with Israel scoring two more goals and Brazil scoring one to make it 3-2, sending Israel to their first-ever Under-20 World Cup semi-finals.

Israel also missed two penalties in the extra-time. They were the better side in the game and they deservedly qualified for the semi-finals.

After a goalless first half, Brazil took the lead on 56 minutes from a stunning strike by Marcos Leonardo, who latched on to a precise through ball from Matheus Martins before unleashing an unstoppable shot inside the left post from the edge of the area.

Israel equalised four minutes later. Anan Khalaili showed that he could easily score goals using his head after netting another fantastic header.

Brazil went into the lead again on 91 minutes. Andrey Santos displayed great vision and sent a pass to Matheus Nascimento, who showed brilliant composure inside the box to bury the ball into the bottom right corner.

Two minutes later, Israel equalised again from a spectacular goal by Hamza Shibli, who brilliantly darted into the box to latch on to a cross and buried the ball into the bottom left corner, leaving the goalkeeper stunned to make it 2-2.

The European side shockingly took the lead on 105 minutes into extra-time. Dor Turgeman finished his beautiful individual effort with a superb strike from inside the box. Kaique Pereira was just a bystander as the ball flew into the left side of the goal to make the score 3-2.

Turgeman, after scoring celebrated his winner for Israel the Cristiano Ronaldo style.

Israel then missed two penalties within the space of two minutes, but held on to win the match.

In the other quarter final match played, earlier, Italy, second place finishers from Nigeria’s Group D beat Colombia by 3-1 to qualify for the semi finals

The semi-final fixtures will take place on Thursday.

It would be recalled that the controversy surrounding the participation of Israel in the competition forced FIFA to withdraw hosting right from Indonesia which had earlier won and prepared for it.

Indonesia Football Association had informed FIFA that the country’s government could not guarantee safety for the Israeli team in the competition, prompting the world football governing body to withdraw hosting rights to the Asian nation, with barely four weeks to scheduled kick-off in May 30.