Uruguay Wins Its First U-20 World Cup

Uruguay Wins Its First U-20 World Cup

Uruguay defeated Italy 1-0 on Sunday to win the FIFA U-20 World Cup, securing the former’s first U-20 World Cup trophy.

The two nations were the only two teams left standing after almost a month of action in Argentina. Forty thousand fans, mostly cheering for Uruguay, cascaded upon the Estadio Único Diego Armando Maradona in La Platta to watch the spectacle.

Uruguay was by far the superior team, clearly feeding off of their overwhelming fan support advantage.

The South American side dominated the game and created just about all of the dangerous chances in the match. Uruguay created 15 shots, four of which were on target. Italy only managed to take three shots, none of which were on target.

Italy’s lack of attacking threat is a testament to how good Uruguay’s defense had been throughout the tournament. They only conceded three goals throughout their seven-game stay in Argentina, all of which were conceded against England in the group stage.

However, despite their dominance, Uruguay struggled to find a way past Sebastiano Desplanches in the Italy goal.

A header from Anderson Duarte in the 23rd minute forced maybe the best save of the tournament from Desplanches who was able to acrobatically tip the ball over the crossbar.

Long shots from Fabricio Díaz and a freekick from Luciano Rodríguez also came close to scoring. However, it seemed like the ball was just refusing to make its way into the back of the Italian net.

Finally, in the 86th minute, Uruguay found the breakthrough. A corner kick bobbled around until it eventually found Rodríguez at the back post. Rodríguez powered the ball home, giving Uruguay its long-awaited lead during regular time.

The one goal proved to be enough as Uruguay saw the game out to win its first-ever U-20 World Cup.

There was some consolation for Italy as Cesare Casadei won the Golden Boot and Golden Ball for being the tournament’s top scorer and best player.

However, Uruguay made Casadei ineffectual in the game and are deservedly U-20 World Cup champions. They were seen as dark horses heading into the tournament and made good on their potential during the tournament.

After a fun month of U-20 World Cup action, it will be interesting to see what kind of players the stars of this tournament will develop into in the coming years.

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