A 2023 Under-20 World Cup bronze medal is on the line on Sunday evening, as Israel Under-20s meet South Korea Under-20s in the third-place playoff in La Plata.
The European Under-19 runners-up fell to a 1-0 defeat to Uruguay in the semi-finals, while their Asian counterparts failed to reach back-to-back finals courtesy of a 2-1 defeat to Italy.
Match preview
Giant killings have graced TV screens left, right and centre during the current Under-20 World Cup, but in spite of their enthralling quarter-final triumph over favourites Brazil, Israel finally met their match against Uruguay.
With 61 minutes gone, Alan Matturro's long-range effort was tipped onto the post by Tomer Tzarfati, but Anderson Duarte was on hand to poke home the rebound before Uruguay shut up shop and booked their tickets to the showpiece event, despite enjoying just 33% of the ball on the day.
One year on from falling short to England in the Under-19 Euros final, Ofir Haim's side missed out on historic successive finals for a country who had never taken part in an Under-20 World Cup before, and Israel's young starlets will no doubt travel home with their heads held high.
However, a spot on the podium could still be theirs if Haim's side can quickly rediscover their attacking penchant, having scored in all of their World Cup games before their 1-0 loss to Uruguay, but the European nation also have just one clean sheet to show for their efforts in Argentina so far.
Four years on from falling to Ukraine's superiority in the 2019 showpiece, South Korea aspired to make back-to-back Under-20 World Cup finals for the first time ever, but the previously ferocious Tiger of Asia lost their bite against a potent Italy crop.
A peach of a strike from Cesare Casadei - his seventh of the competition - opened the scoring for the Azzurrini on the 14-minute mark, but Lee Seung-won restored parity from the penalty spot just nine minutes later after Bae Joon-ho was fouled in the penalty area - it took a lengthy VAR delay to reach the decision, though.
Kim Eun-joong's team would continue to show momentary bursts of attacking inspiration, but in the dying embers of the match, Simone Pafundi picked out the top corner with a sublime free kick to deservedly send Italy through to Sunday's final.
As a result, South Korea will compete for the bronze medal for just the second time at the Under-20 World Cup - their only previous such encounter in 1983 ended in defeat to Poland after extra time - but they also enter the weekend having scored in five of their six games at the 2023 tournament so far, only being frustrated against Gambia.
The third-place playoff will mark the first-ever Under-20 meeting between Israel and South Korea - two sides who can currently only dream of making it to a World Cup final at senior level - but the foundations are being laid for a successful future for both podium-chasing nations.
Team News
Israel marksman Dor Turgeman shook off an injury concern from the quarter-final to play the full 90 in their beating at the hands of Uruguay, so Haim should have all of his troops at his disposal for Sunday's third-place playoff.
While Turgeman's spot up front is likely safe, Haim may be tempted into an alteration or two further back as fatigue from a gruelling tournament sets in, with Roy Nawi and Ran Binyamin both competent options for change in the engine room.
Similarly, South Korea boss Kim is expected to be working with the same group of players from Thursday's semi-final defeat, where Gangwon protege Lee will captain the side from the number 10 role after scoring his second goal of the tournament with a thunderous spot kick last time out.
However, the quick turnaround time could also come into Kim's thinking for the bronze medal match, so Freiburg starlet Lee Ji-han - one of just two members of the squad to play their football outside of South Korea alongside Portimonense's Kim Yong-hak - may come into contention for only his second start of the tournament.
Israel Under-20s possible starting lineup:
Tzarfati; Feingold, Lemkin, Israelov, Revivo; Binyamin, Madmon; Senior, Abed, Shibli; Turgeman
South Korea Under-20s possible starting lineup:
Jun-hong; Chang-woo, Ji-soo, Seok-hyeon, Ye-hoon; Sang-yun, Hyun-bin; Ji-han, Seung-won, Joon-ho; Young-jun
We say: Israel Under-20s 1-1 South Korea Under-20s (a.e.t, Israel to win on penalties)
With both Israel and South Korea often cancelling out defensive shortcomings with at least one goal at the correct end of the field, Sunday's third-place playoff has all the makings of an extremely close affair, one which may not be settled in normal time.
As already-fatigued legs begin to tire in extra time, penalties may very well be the outcome, and with South Korea suffering 12-yard heartache to Uzbekistan in the Asian Cup just three months ago, we give the edge to Israel from the spot.
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