Ecuador Under-20s and South Korea Under-20s meet at the brand new Estadio Unico Madre de Ciudades for a last 16 clash in the Under-20 World Cup on Thursday.

Both nations performed brilliantly in the last edition back in 2019, but one will be heading home sooner than hoped in this early knockout game.

Match preview

Despite an underwhelming run of results during their current cycle of players, the Ecuador Under-20 side have reached the knockouts on the world stage yet again.

Since the setup reconvened last year after a brilliant performance in coming third at the 2019 U20 World Cup, Ecuador's youngsters have won just eight of their 24 games.

They reached the tournament very narrowly, taking just four points from five qualifying matches to sneak in as the final qualifier from South America.

Miguel Bravo's side showed great spirit to fight back from adversity to make it through though, after losing their opening game in stoppage time.

They responded by coming from behind to beat Slovakia, giving them the upper hand before facing whipping boys Fiji in the final group game.

That proved no challenge for La Tricolor as they recorded the biggest win of the group stage by thrashing the islanders 9-0 on Friday.

The big win sealed a second-placed finish in Group B, behind USA, who beat them in that opening game, and back-to-back victories for the first time in almost 20 outings should bring confidence.

Ecuador will face another side who finished as runners-up in their group, but there were big surprises in Group F.

Beaten finalists in 2019, South Korea finished second in a group containing France, but Les Bleus' youngsters were knocked out after losing to the Asian side in the opening game.

That made Korea huge favourites to take top spot, but after going 2-0 down to Honduras, Kim Eun-jung will have been delighted his squad fought back to claim a point.

After Gambia beat both Honduras and France, Korea knew they had to beat the African nation to top the group, but they could only scrap out a 0-0 draw as both teams progressed.

Their tally of five points was still the best out of any Asian nation in the group stage though, despite being losing semi-finalists to Uzbekistan in the recent Under-20 Asian Cup.

Team News

Nilson Angulo is the standout name in the Ecuador squad, having already featured for the senior side while turning out for Anderlecht at club level.

Angulo should start wide in attack, supporting Justin Cuero, whose three-goal tally so far is only bettered in the competition by Italy's Cesare Casadei.

All five second-half goals scored against Fiji came via substitutes, so Bravo knows he has plenty of strength in depth, but he may keep much of the same side who featured throughout the groups.

Six of the 21-man squad play for Independiente del Valle, the club which has become notorious for producing many of Ecuador's talented players now playing across Europe.

Kim Yong-hak could return to the Korean side after dropping to the bench versus Gambia.

Kim scored against Honduras and is the only player currently playing outside Korea, having been plying his trade on loan at Portimonense this season.

Kim Joon-hong was banned for the draw with Gambia having picked up bookings in both of their first two group games, but he should replace Moon Hyeon-ho in goal here.

Choi Seok-hyun was dismissed late on for two yellow cards against Honduras and also missed the final group game, but will be available for selection again.

Kang Seong-jin is the big name in this Korean side, having already featured twice at senior level, scoring two goals, and he should start on the left of attack.

Ecuador Under-20s possible starting lineup:
Napa; D de la Cruz, Garcia, Ordonez, M de la Cruz; O Zambrano, Paez, Gonzalez; Angulo, Cuero, Klinger

South Korea Under-20s possible starting lineup:
Kim Joon-hong; Park Chang-woo; Choi Seok-hyun, Kim Ji-soo, Bae Seo-joon; Lee Seung-won, Kang Sang-yoon, Bae Joon-ho; Kim Yong-hak, Lee Young-jun, Kang Seong-jin

We say: Ecuador Under-20s 1-2 South Korea Under-20s

Ecuador have flattered to deceive both in this tournament and in qualifying despite progressing with two wins, and it is hard to take much from their victory over Fiji especially given how weak the opposition were.

South Korea started with a statement win over an ultimately disappointing France side, and the losing finalists from four years ago may spring another surprise here, as they are proving hard to beat in this competition so far.


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