By Iseoluwa Raychel
Italy earned a 2-1 win over South Korea in the semifinals of the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup to set up a final duel with Uruguay, Sportivationng.com reports.
The two teams secured impressive victories on Thursday over Israel and South Korea respectively and marched on into the final as the competition winds down.
The first semifinal saw Uruguay claiming a slim 1-0 win over Israel thanks to Anderson Duarte’s match winner in the second half.
The game had ended goalless at the break after both sides failed to get a goal despite playing with urgency.
After the restart of tie, the Uruguayans turned the game around and made it count in a moment of brilliance after much determination.
Duarte became the lucky boy who lifted his team past the resilient Israeli side with the important goal as Uruguay finally sealed their passage into final.
In the other encounter, Cesare Casadei continued to announce himself to the world as he found the net to inspire Italy to winning ways against South Korea.
Casadei took his tally to seven goals as the Italians defeated South Korea 2-1 in a keenly contested game.
The Chelsea youngster broke the deadlock on the 14th minute much to the delight of his teammates and supporting fans as Italy began the contest brightly.
However, the Koreans fought their way back into the match and were rewarded with a penalty nine minutes after the Italians had taken the lead.
Lee Seung-Won converted the resultant penalty to level things up for his side as the contest took a different dimension after the opening goals.
Although, there were no further goals before the referee blew the half time whistle to bring the game to a still.
The second half soon started as the two sides sought for more goals with pressing and urgency with the final ticket at stake.
Looking like the team who wanted it the most, the Italians grabbed a late winner through Simone Pafundi to break the hearts of Korea.
They will face Uruguay in Sunday’s final in style.
