Italy U20 meets Ecuador U20 in the 3rd place playoffs at the World Cup U20. The match will be played on Friday, June 14th at Stadion GOSiR (Gdynia)
The Italians were predicted to win the World Cup. It was not surprising: the Squadra Azzurra confidently won its group, beat the tournament hosts in the 1/8 finals, and then scored 4 goals to the net of Mali. But at a crucial moment, things did not go according to the plan of Nicolato. The Ukrainians reliably blocked all approaches to their penalty area and did not concede from the Italians in the semifinals. However, Squadra Azzurra still scored a goal, which was canceled after the video review. Actually, it was the only dangerous attempt of the Italian national team.
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Did Ecuador tumble over itself? It is partly true, because very few people expected to see South Americans in the final stages of the World Cup. Nevertheless, the team reached the semifinal deservedly. The Ecuadorians started the matches with the United States and Uruguay in the status of an underdog, but they managed to beat more upscale rivals in the regulation time. Moreover, the Ecuadorian team scored a total of 5 goals in 1/8 and 1/4 finals. Yes, and it did not deserve to lose in the semifinals. In a duel with the Koreans, Ecuador acted much more actively in the attack and created several goal attempts, but the conversion failed.
Bronze medal matches are usually less intense than the final. Therefore, I suppose that the Italians and Ecuadorians will play at their leisure, and the goal chances will repeatedly arise for both teams. The nominal hosts failed to score in the semifinals, but they smashed 8 goals in the previous 5 matches of the tournament. In particular, Squadra Azzurra managed to score Ecuador in the group stage. The nominal visitors kept a clean sheet only with the Mexicans, who had almost no chance of reaching the playoffs at that time. In other games, the Ecuadorians consistently conceded at least one goal. But Ecuador amazed with its attacking game. South Americans successfully played attack first and counterattacked effectively in the course of the entire tournament. Despite the red card in the match with Italy, they continued to storm the Squadra Azzurra and were close to a goal. The Malians, for example, scored twice to the net of Nicolo's men in the quarterfinals, despite the opponent’s numerical advantage. I expect that this time Ecuador will be able to penetrate the defense of Italy, but at the same time, the South Americans will again make mistakes in defense.
Prediction for the match: Both teams to score - yes
