Nigeria Vs South Korea – 2023 U-20 World Cup quater-final match preview
Nigeria and South Korea will lock-horns in a quater-final match at the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup. SPORTSRATION presents a preview.
MATCH DETAILS
Type of Competition: FIFA U-20 World Cup
Stage: Quater-final
Fixture: Nigeria Vs South Korea
Date: June 4, 2023
Time: 6:30pm
Venue: Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades
HEAD TO HEAD
Nigeria and South Korea have met on two occasions at U-20 level. The first was in the group stage of the 2005 U-20 World Cup and ended in a 2-1 win for the Asians.
Nigeria then won 1-0 in their next meeting at the 2013 edition.
ABOUT THE MATCH
Nigeria and South Korea are the only teams from their respective continents left in this tournament.
By their nicknames, it is a match between the Flying Eagles and the Tigers of Asia.
To reach this stage, Nigeria finished 3rd in group D behind Brazil and Italy. The Flying Eagles won the first two games vs Dominican Republic and Italy before falling 2-0 to Brazil in their last group match.
A stunning Round of 16 win vs hosts Argentina pulled the Eagles through to face South Korea in the last-8.
On their part, 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup runners-up South Korea are yet to taste defeat in this tournament.
Kim Eun-jong’s men defeated France in the opening group game before draws vs Honduras and Gambia to end the first phase.
A hard-fought 3-2 win over Ecuador in the Round of 16 preserved their invincibility ahead of a quater-final game against Nigeria.
There are no reports of injury from both camps meaning Nigeria’s Ladan Bosso and his South Korean counterpart Kim Eun-jong will have a full squad to select from.
Whereas the U-20 Eagles have never repeated the same starting XI in this tournament, Bosso may stick to the same XI from the win over Argentina or a twist could see Tochukwu Nnadi or Jude Sunday dropped for either Eletu or super-sub Haliru Sarki.
For the South Korea coach, having to face a second African team in this tournament [ first vs Gambia in the group stage] may deploy same tactics to contain the physically stronger opposition.
The two countries share identical records of not winning the FIFA U-20 World Cup before, losing two finals and bowing out at the quater-final stage on two occasions.
The winner of this match will face Italy in the semi-final after Carmine Nunziatta’s men defeated Colombia 3-1 on Saturday night.
PREDICTED LINEUPS
Nigeria: Aniagboso; Bameyi, Fredrick, Ogwuche, Agbalaka; Nnadi, Daga, S. Lawal; Muhammad, S. F. Lawal, V. Eletu
South Korea: Jun-hong; Chang-woo, Ji-soo, Seok-hyeon, Ye-hoon; Joon-ho, Sang-yun, Hyun-bin, Yong-hak; Seung-won; Young-jun
SPORTSRATION SAYS
Nigeria will start as favourites to win on the strength of their performance vs Argentina in the Round of 16.
Yes it is a different game, different opposition different stage but we will stick with the Eagles to fly again.
