Under 20 World Cup: Italy beats England and goes to the quarterfinals

The sweetest revenge. Italy eliminates England and thus enters the top eight of the World Cup, making up for the interests of the defeat a year ago at the U19 European Championship (when many of the protagonists on the pitch were the same). On the road for Nunziata’s Azzurrini there will now be Colombia, a not insurmountable obstacle despite the 5-1 trimmed by the South Americans against Slovakia making noise. Appointment on Saturday 3 June in San Juan, again at 11 pm Italian time.

WITHOUT PAFUNDI

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Nunziata surprises by leaving Udinese’s jewel on the bench for a more structured attack, with Esposito paired with Ambrosino. However, the addition of kilos and centimeters does not take away unpredictability: after just 8′ it is Ambrosino himself who removes references, disguising himself as an attacking midfielder to send Baldanzi on goal with a delicious through ball from a winger. The player from Empoli is fast and icy in his execution in front of Cox. And so, ready to go, he commands Italy. However, he is unable to enjoy the advantage, in the face of a robust reaction from the British. In the quarter of an hour Devine unloads a great left foot on the crossbar, well triggered horizontally by the expected Chukwuemeka who thus takes his first steps in the World Cup. In fact, the Chelsea midfielder was only allowed to leave for Argentina after the Premier League was over (he was on the field against Newcastle on Sunday). However, the equal is perceived in the air and it is the result of a beautiful and intelligent play, as was the one of the blue goal: the center forward Scarlett works the ball well from the left, leaves the area free, opening it up to Devine who attacks the close post and burns Fontanarosa (substitute for the disqualified Ghilardi). We arrive at the interval with one goal from each side and the feeling that the heavy field of La Plata favors the bigger capacity of our opponents.

STILL CASADEI

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If the great wingers are the propellers of the English attacks, Italy seems much more at ease when they can phrase. Ambrosino continues to vary away from 16 meters, thus paving the way for the raiders. Foster seizes the difficulties in the middle ground and changes: the colossus Giaby enters from the bottom, to free Chukwuemeka forward who immediately becomes dangerous. When everything seems to lead to extra time, the turning point: Casadei – up to that moment less decisive than other times – still looks for the goal and finds a deflection of Qansah’s hand on his right. This time, the Var smiles at us: long on field review and indication of the spot, Casadei himself in the 87th minute kicks hard and angled for his fifth goal which isolates him at the top of the top scorer (5). Against the odds and with great merit, the dream continues.

SATISFIED NUNZIATA

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“It was a great game, played in front of an audience that cheered us on and that I want to thank – commented Nunziata – We are happy to have taken revenge for last year’s defeat, but above all to go ahead in this competition. We not only held the pitch, but also played a good game, against a very strong team that arrived here as European champions. Colombia is on Saturday: a formidable opponent, but we beat Brazil and England, so it means that Italy is also a great team.” “We’ll show ourselves on Saturday too – added Tommaso Baldanzi, who scored the opening goal -. At this point, we don’t fear anyone”.