Well played USA,you turned the tables on a very talented but maybe overconfident France.Cant wait till Saturday.
Our hustle and determination in the heat of the day and the battle - with the conditioning to sustain it - were key and perhaps the deciding factor in our wonderful win. To do so without two starting midfielders was fantastic!
All of FIFA's favorites have exited the tournament. https://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/news/favourites-flex-their-muscles-3029245 https://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/news/favourites-ease-into-last-16 FIFA is eating some humble pie now. All 8 quarter-finalists have not won previous u20 WC editions. There will be a brand new champ within 11 days.
And Argentina was eliminated today in R16, by Mali. A brand new champ lies among the current 8 quarter-finalists.
Weird, on Google earlier it showed that Argentina had advanced. Now it fixed it and shows Mali. My bad
Similar happened to the DC United-Chicago Fire result last week. A few places had it as a DC United win instead of a tie with Chicago scoring again in stoppage.
USA fought so hard and got the victory. So proud of that team. Argentina lost. Glad I gave them the kiss of death with my "team to beat" declaration. Also happy that Mali beat Argentina with something right out of their own playbook. A quick free kick for an easy goal as the defense was not ready. So many times I have seen Argentinos do that to opposition so it was cool to see it happen to one of their teams.
Of the teams left, Senegal has played the most consistently at a high level. The rest of the teams have had more ups and downs, or in some cases have been very fortunate with bounces or officiating etc.
That is a fair assessment. But as we have seen in many Youth tournaments all it takes is one game and you are out no matter how consistent teams may be in earlier rounds. I would not be shocked to see any team get upset before the Final.
IMO semis will be Ukraine-Italy and Ecuador-Senegal. Ukraine is not great but Colombia plays poorly, Senegal will outmuscle the koreans, Italy is simply much more organized than Mali who are a really weird team. Ecuador-USA is the toughest to call, but I think (hope) south american flair will prevail in this one.
Ukraine did what they had to do to advance. Took advantage of a dumb mishap and made Colombia pay. Congrats to them.
Colombia had serious problems in the defense. Ukraine should have taken better care of its chances that Colombian mistakes presented them. Ukraine does not have the best skill level but what makes Ukraine a very credible side is its high organization at the back.
They do look good. And if they had Zaniolo and Kean they would be hands down the favorite to lift this trophy in my opinion.
Sandro Tonali is another one who's up with the U21s that is eligible and would have been starting. oh and Donnarumma is still eligible...but not to take away from Plizzari who has been the best keeper at the tourney so far.
I so want to see USA-Italy in the Final now. But who knows. Ecuador will not be an easy team at all and the Korea-Senegal winner will be strong too.