Japan, Italy, Portugal advance

Uruguay maintain unbeaten run

SEOUL, South Korea, May 27, (AP): Italy, Japan and Portugal advanced to the knockout stage of the Under-20 World Cup on Saturday.

Two goals from Ritsu Doan gave Japan a 2-2 draw with Italy in their Group D clash in Cheonan after Italy went 2-0 ahead within the first seven minutes.

Andrea Favilli crossed from the left for Riccardo Orsolini to volley home from close range, and shortly after Giuseppe Panico got on the end of Francesco Cassata’s hurried free kick to add a second.

Japan spent much of the rest of the half pushing forward and were rewarded after 22 minutes when Doan scored after a perfectly flighted free kick from Keita Endo.

The impressive Doan was on target again early in the second half, dribbling past three defenders to score his fourth goal of the tournament from close range.

Japan finished third in Group D, behind Italy on goal difference but enough to progress to the knockout stage.

Sixteen of the 24 teams go through — the top two teams from each of the six groups and the four best thirdplaced finishers.

Group D winner Uruguay had already secured a place in the knockout stage with two wins from their first two games and the South American champions maintained their unbeaten record with a 0-0 draw against South Africa in Incheon.

In Group C, Portugal beat Iran 2-1 in Incheon to move into the second round in second place. Standings Group C P W L GF GA Pts 3 2 0 1 6 4 6 3 1 1 1 4 4 4 3 1 1 1 2 2 4 3 1 0 2 4 6 3

Group D P W L GF GA Pts Uruguay 3 2 1 0 3 0 7 Italy 3 1 1 1 4 3 4 Japan 3 1 1 1 4 5 4 South Africa 3 0 1 2 1 4 1

Note: Standings read as played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against and points.

Chelsea’s Diego Costa (center), tries to score past Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina (left), during the English FA Cup final soccer match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Wembley Stadium in London, on May 27. (AP) ANKARA, May 27, (AFP): Turkey’s Galatasaray said Saturday it would rename its stadium after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s call for the removal of the word ‘arena’ from sports stadia, state media reported.

“The board of directors took the decision to change the stadium’s name after the president made the call on this issue,” club chairman Dursun Ozbek said, quoted by state-run news agency Anadolu.

The Turkish football team’s venue will be called Turk Telekom Stadium instead of Turk Telekom Arena from Monday, according to Hurriyet daily.

Erdogan said Friday he was against the use of the word arena and had given instructions for their removal from stadia to Sports Minister Akif Cagatay Kilic.

“Of course you know what they used to do in arenas in the past? They would let people be shred to pieces.”

He claimed it was a term foreign to Turkish: “What does arena mean? We don’t have such a thing in our language.”

DD