The round of 16 at the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) U-20 World Cup 2023 has been completed.
The South Korean U-20 football team, led by head coach Kim Eun-joong, played to a goalless 0-0 draw against the Gambia in their final Group F match at the Mendoza Stadium in Mendoza, Argentina, at 6:00 a.m. ET on Monday.
With the result, South Korea, which finished the group stage with one win and two draws (5 points), finished second in Group F behind the Gambia (2 wins, 1 draw and 7 points) and advanced to the Round of 16.
The tournament will feature the top four finishers from the 12 teams that finished first and second in Groups A through F and the six teams that finished third.
South Korea will face Ecuador in the Round of 16 on June 2 at 6 a.m. at Santiago del Estero Stadium.
With the Korea-Ecuador matchup, the U-20 World Cup Round of 16 has been finalized.
The United States-New Zealand, Gambia-Uruguay, Uzbekistan-Israel, Brazil-Tunisia, Colombia-Slovakia, England-Italy, and Argentina-Niger will compete for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Notably, if South Korea defeats Ecuador to reach the quarterfinals, they will face the winner of Argentina-Nigeria.
Hosts Argentina are the favorites after winning Group A with three straight wins.
Nigeria went 2-1 alongside Brazil and Italy in Group D, dubbed the Group of Death, but lost on goal difference and advanced to the round of 16 as the group’s third-place wild card.
Whichever team makes it through, the quarterfinals will be tough.
Meanwhile, Group C’s Japan is out of the competition.
Of the three teams in the group, they are behind Nigeria (6 points) and New Zealand (4 points) in Group D, and behind Slovakia (3 points) and Tunisia (3 points and +1 goal difference) in Group E, who have the same number of points.먹튀검증
This is the first time in 22 years that Japan has been eliminated in the group stage of a U-20 World Cup since the 2001 tournament.
Japan failed to qualify for four consecutive tournaments beginning in 2009 before reaching the round of 16 in back-to-back tournaments in 2017 and 2019.