•Team Hits Santiago

Players and officials of Nigeria’s U-20 team, the Flying Eagles, arrived in Santiago Del Estero, yesterday, ahead their quarterfinal clash against Korea Republic, with a promise not to let Nigerians down. The match will hold tomorrow.

The Flying Eagles, silver medallist on two occasions, at Saudi ’89 and Holland 2005, qualified for the quarterfinal on Wednesday by proving bookmakers wrong with a 2-0 victory against the host, Argentina.

Korea Republic, on their part, edged Ecuador 3-2 in their Round of 16 game on Thursday.

The Flying Eagles arrived in Santiago in the early hours of yesterday.

An official of the Nigerian team told our reporter, yesterday, that the players are in good spirit, and are waiting anxiously to shoot down the Koreans tomorrow in Santiago Del Estero.

“The players are good and ready for the quarterfinal clash against Korea Republic on Sunday. They have vowed not to let Nigerians down,” the official said.

Tomorrow’s clash will be the 3rd time Nigeria and Korea Republic will be meeting at the FIFA U-20 World Cup. At The Netherland 2005, Korea defeated Nigeria 2-1, but the Flying Eagles secured a narrow 1-0 win at the 2013 edition of the competition.

The game tomorrow will hold at Estadio Unico Madre de Ciudades with the winner qualifying for the semi-final.

In their match against Ecuador on Thursday, Bae Junho scored one and set another for Korea Republic to upset Ecuador 3-2.

It was the Taegeuk Warriors of Korea who struck first. Bae Junho played a delightful ball over the back of the Ecuador defence.

Lee Youngjun, who had timed his run to perfection, controlled it immaculately on his chest and buried a volley into the bottom corner.

Bae then employed two exceptional touches to befuddle Daniel de la Cruz, before firing home to double the advantage.

A penalty got Ecuador back into the game. Park Changwoo was adjudged to have pulled back Kendry Paez, and Justin Cuero dispatched his fourth goal of Argentina 2023, but Korea Republic restored their two-goal cushion at the start of the second half.

Choi Seokhyun forcibly headed home Lee Seungwon’s corner, and despite a late Sebastian Gonzalez effort from close range, it finished 3-2. (The Guardian)

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