Uruguay, South Korea reach U-20 World Cup semi-finals
Uruguay and South Korea have advanced to the semi-finals of the Under-20 World Cup in Argentina.
The South Americans beat the United States 2-0 in Santiago del Estero, dominating the match from start to finish on Sunday.
South Korea, runners-up in the last U-20 World Cup in 2019 to Ukraine, secured their spot with a 1-0 victory against Nigeria, thanks to a goal in extra-time.
Uruguay will take on Israel on Thursday, the same day the Asian side face Italy for a place in the final.
South Korea scored the only goal of their match in the fifth minute of extra-time. The header by Choi Seok-hyun was one of the few chances either team had during the encounter.
Uruguay opened the scoring in the 21st minute after a counter-attack put Anderson Duarte in front of an empty goal. The Uruguayans doubled their lead in the 56th minute through an own goal by Joshua Wynder.
The United States did not concede any goals in their first four matches of the tournament.
“That’s life. If you don’t have enough, you don’t win,” US coach Mikey Varas said after the match.
“They fought, they have what they had and they had a great tournament here.”
Uruguay coach Marcelo Brioli agreed that the first goal of the match came when the US team was dominating.
“The first minutes of the match were hard, but our team’s maturity made the difference,” Brioli said.
None of the four teams left in the tournament have ever won it. Uruguay were runners up in 1997 and 2013. Israel are playing in the U-20 World Cup for the first time.