Four nations can progress today
Four nations can progress today
Posted: 2009-09-29 10:00
Four countries are in line to progress to the Last 16 in the Fifa Under-20 World Cup matches being played in Egypt today.
European U-19 champions Germany face Korea Republic at the Mubarak Stadium in Suez in their second Group C match while Cameroon take on the US in the second match at the same venue.
Victory for Germany and the Young Lions will see them through to the next round with one match each remaining.
In Group D, Uruguay, narrow winners in their opening match, meet Uzbekistan while Ghana take on England in Ismailia.
Ghana will feel under pressure to defeat the Three Lions in order to keep up the pressure on Uruguay at the top of the group, while England will look to Uzbekistan’s goal against the Black Satellites as proof that the Africans' defence can be breached as they seek to end an unwanted record of 671 minutes without a goal in this competition.
“We’re still in this tournament and our destiny won't be decided on the result of the opening match. If we can reproduce the performance we showed in the opening 70 minutes of the game against Uruguay, we have a good chance of going through,” says England coach Brian Eastick.
Germany coach Horst Hrubesch refuses to be carried away by their opening victory.
“We know full well that the Koreans are one of the most skilful teams in the tournament. I watched their match against Cameroon to see if there are any flaws in their game, and know we'll have to be very well set up to take on this particular opponent. There's no talk about revenge for the defeat in Abu Dhabi a while back, we're just taking it one game at a time.”
Cameroon coach Alain Wabo is quietly confident of making it to the next round.
“Our main strength is that we can keep going for the full 90 minutes and put our opponents under constant pressure. We haven’t taken part in an U-20 World Cup for ten years and we're all looking to progress. We'll be doing everything we can to make the semifinal at least,” he says.
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