Group E: France through to next round
Group F: Argentina beat European champions
Seven places in the Round of 16 already booked
THE DAY REPLAYED – With each team having now played two games at the FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019, the last 16 is starting to take shape. After Uruguay, Ukraine, New Zealand, Italy and Senegal had all confirmed their tickets to the next round, today they were joined by France (from Group E) and Argentina (Group F), meaning seven of the places have now been taken in the knockout phase.
La Albiceleste's 2-0 win over Portugal represented their first-ever victory over the reigning European champions at this competition. France likewise recorded their second triumph in as many games.
Results
Group E Panama 0-2 France Saudi Arabia 3-4 Mali
Group F Portugal 0-2 Argentina South Africa 0-1 Korea Republic
Moment of the day
Saudi Arabia-Mali Goal: 3-4 Mohamed Camara (90')
Memorable moments
Clean sheets: With two rounds of matches played, only three teams are yet to concede so far. Senegal have scored five without reply, France four, while somewhat surprisingly, New Zealand have found the net seven times without letting any in at the other end. As the old footballing maxim goes, goals win games, defence wins titles.
Fond memories: For Mali coach Mamoutou Kane, the match against Saudi Arabia was a trip down memory lane. The former goalkeeper took part at the U-20 World Cup exactly 30 years ago in Saudi Arabia, the first time an African nation had participated at the tournament. However, following a 1-1 draw with USA, defeats to Brazil (5-0) and German DR (3-0) meant Mali packed their bags for home after the group stage.
The words
"There's still room for improvement, including our concentration levels. It's difficult for young players to stay focused for 90 minutes. Even though we were 2-0 up there were still some things to work on. We need to be quicker getting back behind the ball and we need to dribble more, as that's a part of our game." Bernard Diomede (France coach)
"I believe we tried everything we could. We had several good moments with crosses and shots outside the box. Argentina were great defensively. Maybe we lacked a little bit in terms of the finishing touch to convert our chances, but I thought in several moments we exhibited strong play. We’ve seen Argentina do great things on stages like this.” Helio Sousa (Portugal coach)
Up next
Wednesday 29 May, all times local
Group A Senegal-Poland (Lodz, 20:30) Colombia-Tahiti (Lublin, 20:30)
Group B Ecuador-Mexico (Gdynia, 18:00) Italy-Japan (Bydgoszcz, 18:00)
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