Kim Eun Joong-ho’s stamp has been broken.
The South Korea U-20 team, led by head coach Kim Eun-joong, will face Nigeria in the quarter-finals of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Argentina 2023 at the Estadio Unico Madre de Ciudades in Santiago del Estero, Argentina, at 2.30am on Friday.
South Korea reached the quarter-finals after defeating Ecuador 3-2 in the round of 16 of the tournament on 2 February. It is the sixth U-20 World Cup quarter-final in South Korea’s history and the first back-to-back. If they knock out Nigeria, it will be their second consecutive quarter-final and they will once again attempt to create mythology.토토사이트
South Korea came into the tournament with low expectations, but they’ve done well in the group stage. After knocking out France in the first round of the tournament, the South Koreans bounced back with a hard-fought win over Ecuador in the round of 16, with key players such as Lee Seung-won, Bae Jun-ho and Lee Young-joon shining through.
Korea also remained the only Asian powerhouse in the tournament. They are the only team to survive the tournament and reach the quarter-finals. First, Japan and Iraq were eliminated in the group stage. Uzbekistan, who made it to the round of 16, fell to a 0-1 loss to Israel.
Kim Eun-joong-ho will now face African giants Nigeria. Nigeria were drawn with Brazil and Italy in what was dubbed the group of death at the tournament, and went 2-1. They looked sharp as they balanced their loss to Brazil with a win over Italy.
Of particular note was their clash with Argentina in the round of 16. The hosts defeated Argentina 2-0 in front of an overwhelmingly supportive home crowd. Nigeria utilised their trademark physicality and quick feet to sink Argentina, who were leading the game, with a single counter-attack.
In the other quarter-final earlier in the day, Italy booked their place in the last four with a 3-1 win over Colombia. They will meet in the final if Kim Eun-jung-ho beats Nigeria. Italy is also the only European team to survive the tournament, meaning that South Korea will need to defeat a continental powerhouse in straight sets to open the door to the final.
After facing South America in the Round of 16 and Africa in the Round of 8, it will be interesting to see if Kim Eun-jung-ho can break through the African barrier and meet the European team in the Round of 4.