South Korea’s U-20 soccer team, looking to reach a second consecutive final at the FIFA U-20 World Cup, played to a 1-1 halftime tie with European powerhouse Italy.
South Korea conceded an early goal in their quarterfinal match at the La Plata Stadium in Argentina on Monday, but went into halftime tied 1-1 with Italy thanks to a late goal from Lee Seung-won (Gangwon).
The Italian goal came in the 14th minute. Opposing left-back Riccardo Turricchia played a ball from the left flank of the Korean danger area to the 토토사이트 front of the arc, where captain Cesare Cassaday connected with a powerful right-footed shot to open the scoring. It was the seventh goal of the tournament for Cassaday, who leads the tournament in scoring (2 assists).
South Korea breathed a sigh of relief less than 10 minutes after the concession, finding the equalizer. In the opponent’s danger area, Bae Jun-ho (Daejeon) was pushed down by defender Mattia Zanotti as he tried to receive the ball, and the situation was reviewed by the video assistant referee (VAR) and awarded a penalty kick.
Lee Seung-won, who was assigned the role of kicker, stepped up to the penalty spot and converted with a calm right-footed shot in the 23rd minute. It was his second career goal and sixth offensive point (2 goals, 4 assists).
South Korea lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Lee Young-joon (Gimcheon) up front. Bae Jun-ho, Lee Seung-won and Kim Yong-hak (Portimonense) formed the second line, while Kang Sang-yoon (Jeonbuk) and Park Hyun-bin (Incheon) combined in the central defensive midfield.
The back line consisted of Cho Young-gwang (Seoul), Choi Seok-hyun (Dankook University), Kim Ji-soo (Seongnam), and Choi Ye-hoon (Busan) from the left, with Kim Jun-hong (Gimcheon) as the goalkeeper.
South Korea, who finished runner-up at the event in 2019 with Lee Kang-in (Mallorca) at the helm, are looking to reach the final for the second consecutive time. During their run to the quarterfinals, they went undefeated (3 wins, 2 draws) with a counter-attacking style of football that refused to give up possession and countered with solid defense and powerful counter-attacks.
Meanwhile, in the other quarterfinal earlier in the day, Uruguay advanced to the final with a 1-0 win over Israel. Alan Maturo’s left-footed mid-range shot in the 16th minute bounced off the goalkeeper’s hands and the post before Andersson Duarte finished with a return shot.
Uruguay, whose previous best finish at the tournament was runner-up in 1997 and 2013, will play the winner of the South Korea-Italy match for their first ever title. The final will take place at 6 a.m. on Dec. 12 at La Plata Stadium.