Under-20 World Cup, semi-final: Uruguay 1-0 Israel

Uruguay wins first U20 World Cup final ticket, ending Israel’s dream. A seal from Duarte decides, but he splits the goal in half with the Genoese Matturro. The skimpy result does not do justice to the charrùa supremacy, especially in the second half. In addition to the goal, the Defensor Sporting striker also made himself the protagonist of a woodwork. Uruguay thus returns to the final for the third time after the 1997 edition (2-1 defeat by Argentina) and 2013 (ko on penalties against Pogba’s France). Israel salutes with a more than positive balance, after having eliminated none other than Brazil and having reached a historic semi-final in its first world participation.

equilibrium

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In La Plata Uruguay takes the field in full emergency between injuries and suspensions (Luciano Rodriguez), but Celeste starts well, immediately taking the initiative. On the other hand, Broli can always count on Duarte, Diaz and Gonzalez, the three who have taken the team by the hand, pushing it one step away from the final. The main Uruguayan initiatives were born from them, with Duarte coming very close to taking the lead twice (26′ and 37′) shortly after a spectacular bicycle kick by Genoa’s Matturro, who was also close to scoring a super goal. La Celeste does more and gets to the shot rather easily, also taking advantage of the quick reversals in front with Gonzalez, De Los Santos and Sosa. But the Israelis are certainly not standing by and, albeit with some more difficulties, seriously commit Rodriguez with Abed in the 24th minute. Haim’s team also manages to maneuver with a certain fluency, the problem if anything is an insecure defense and almost always taken at speed by their rivals.

the decisive network

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In the second half, Uruguay soon gained the upper hand by placing themselves in the rival half and breaking through with individual ideas from Gonzalez and Duarte, protagonists in the 51st minute of a combination on the right which led to the latter’s post with an angled right foot on the far post . But the goal is in the air for Celeste and the turning point comes on time in the 61st minute after an overwhelming initiative by Matturro, good at recovering the ball, moving forward and unloading a powerful left foot on the post with a consequent deflection on Duarte’s feet for the winning paw from two steps. The ease of thrust and the power of the Genoan on the left create serious problems for the Israelis, who stay afloat only thanks to a few too many mistakes by the Uruguayan attackers. The Middle Easterners fail to create great opportunities to try to straighten out the challenge, except for the sensational goal ball thrown to the winds by the new Senior substitute in the 85th minute, face to face with Rodriguez. Too late and too little for the Israelis, who in the end raise the white flag against a more solid, concrete and enterprising Uruguay.