Italians too quick for SA

Tshepo Ntsoelengoe

South Africa look set to come back home from the Fifa Under-20 World Cup in South Korea early after losing their second Group D match 2-0 against Italy at the Suwon World Cup Stadium yesterday.

Amajita and the junior Azzurri both needed to win after losing their opening games to Japan and Uruguay respectively last Sunday. However, it was Italy who kept their stay at the tournament alive thanks to goals in each half by Riccardo Orsolini (above) and Andrea Favilli.

South Africa are bottom of the group as the only nation without a point, while their next opponents Uruguay are on top with six points after beating Japan 2-0 to advance to the next phase of the competition. Italy and Japan are second and third respectively with three points.

Coming into the game, the Italians played at a high intensity which saw the Europeans dominate the most part of the game, with Amajita unable to cope with their pace.

Mondli Mpoto was brought into action as early as the sixth minute, saving a goal-bound strike from Paolo Ghiglione, before making another great save to deny Favilli.

Thabo Senong’s team tried to go forward and managed to open up the Italy defence but Luther Singh’s shot went wide.

After numerous efforts, the Italians broke the deadlock through a questionable penalty given in the 23rd minute and slotted in by Orsolini.

Amajita looked to have run out of ideas and resorted to playing long balls, which proved fruitless with the tall Italian back four remaining solid.

The young Azzurri got the second goal of the match through Favilli, who benefited from a long throw- in to head the ball home in the 57th minute.