By Aderonke Ojo
…advance into Round of 16 with South Africa to Play Argentina.
Nigeria’s Flying Eagles in the wee hours of Monday Nigerian time failed to fly above their Columbia counterparts in a group F last match ending it at 1-1 draw.
Columbia scored first in a match they classically dominated as Gonzalez Mosquera scored in the 51st minute but Nigeria’s Captain stepped forward to equalize via a well taken penalty shot in the 86th minute which was his 2nd penalty goal in the tournament.
Nigeria and Columbia met once at the age level in an International friendly on 16th May 2023 which ended 3-3 with half time scores as Columbia 2 Nigeria 1.
The other group F match also ended 1-1 between Saudi Arabia and Norwaywith Norway scoring at the 46th minute through Kemp Fuglestad while Talal Haji equalized via penalty in the 53rd minute.
Columbia led group F with 5 points scoring 2 goals and conceding 1 same margin with Norway that placed 2nd; Nigeria came 3rd with 4 points scoring 4 goals and conceding 4 while Saudi Arabia went home with a point scoring 3 goals and conceding 5.
In group E, South Africa shocked the highest scoring team of the tournament, USA with a 2-1 defeat.
The Yankees got the first goal in the 12th minute through an overlapping Defender, Noah Cobb but an own goal by Joshua Wynder in the 17th gave the equalizer to South Africa.
Wynder’s own goal was the second in the tournament, the first by Jayden Smith of New Zealand against Japan. The decider for South Africa came 45+2 minute from Leviy Kekana who got a pass from Shakeel April.
France thrashed the ‘Basket Leakers’ of the tournament New Caledonia 6-0 to bring a massive 20 goal conceded.
USA topped Group E with 6 points scoring 13 goals and conceding 3; South Africa came 2nd with same 6 points scoring 8 goals and conceding 3; France had 6 points too scoring 8 goals while New Caledonia went home with no point, scored just a goal and conceded 20 goals.
Here is the Round of 16 fixtures. All-time given are Nigerian time:
1. Chi vs Mex at Valparaiso on Tuesday at 8:30 pm.
2. Arg Vs Ngr at Santiago at 8:30 pm on Wednesday
3. Ukraine vs Spa at Valparaiso at midnight of Tuesday.
4. Col Vs South Africa at Taica at 8:30pm of Wednesday.
5. USA vs Ita at Rancagua at 8:30 pm of Thursday
6. Mar vs South Korea at Rancagua on Thursday at midnight
7. Par vs Nor at Taica at midnight of Wednesday.
8. Jap vs Fra at Santiago on Wednesday at midnight.
Here is the quarterfinal pairing:
1. 1st QF: Chi/Mex vs Arg/Ngr on 11th October
2. 2nd QF: Ukr/Spa vs Col/SAF on 11th October
3. 3rd QF: USA/Ita vs Mar/Skor on 12th October
4. 4th QF: Par/Nor vs Jap/Fra on 12th October
The two top leaders of the group automatically goes into the round of 16 matches of the Knockout stages while the 3rd placed team will compare with other 3rd place losers for the better team to join the Round of 16 stages.
The 24th edition of the world U20 male football tournament runs from Sunday 2th September to 17th October with 24 nations from six football confederations contesting in four cities of Chile.