Anchor: South Korea is through to the quarter-finals of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina after beating Ecuador 3-2 on Thursday. Team Korea must now prepare to face Nigeria with one day less of rest amid hopes of repeating the success of the 2019 campaign that saw the Taegeuk Warriors claim second place.
Tom McCarthy has the details.

Report: South Korea has advanced to the quarter-finals of the U-20 World Cup in Argentina with a 3-2 victory over Ecuador on Thursday.

Led by manager Kim Eun-jung, Team Korea stormed into the lead at the Santiago del Estero Stadium with an eleventh-minute opener by Lee Young-jun on a long ball by Bae Jun-ho, who got on the scoresheet himself a mere eight minutes later.

The South American side pulled one back through a Justin Cuero effort in the 36th minute to close the first half at 2-1, but Korea started the second half much like the first, with defender Choi Seok-hyun bagging a third for his side in the 48th minute.

Sebastian Gonzalez managed to score for Ecuador in the dying minutes of the match, but South Korea held out to earn a place in the final eight with a 3-2 victory.

The Korean manager praised the players’ preparations for securing the win.

[Sound bite: South Korean U-20 Men’s National Football Team Manager Kim Eun-jung (Korean-English)]
“First of all, the players did their best starting from the preparation stage. I had told the players that this match is it, that there is no next match after this if we lose because it is a tournament. I think we were able to get good results because we were prepared well.”

South Korea is now set to make their fourth appearance in the quarter-finals of the U-20 World Cup, where they will face off against Nigeria on Sunday at the same venue.

[Sound bite: South Korean U-20 Men’s National Football Team Manager Kim Eun-jung (Korean-English)]
“For the next match, we will need to fine-tune everything to go against Nigeria, thinking that there is no tomorrow. Nigeria had one more day to rest than us so we will need to first focus on recovering.”

Should Kim’s Taegeuk Warriors overcome the Super Eagles, they will be looking at a semi-final showdown against either Colombia or Italy on June 8 as aspirations mount of replicating the team’s best-ever run to the final in the previous edition of the tournament in 2019.
Tom McCarthy, KBS World Radio News.