Before today, the Under-20 National Team had never reached the World Cup final. Now, that’s changed: Carmine Nunziata’s brilliant Italy side beat South Korea 2-1 thanks to goals from Cesare Casadei and Simone Pafundi. It means that, after being involved in the third place play-off for two consecutive tournaments, the Azzurrini are going to play for the trophy on Sunday (23:00 CEST). The final will take place in La Plata against Uruguay, who defeated Israel 1-0 in the first semi-final. The first of the two third place play-offs Italy have taken part in saw them meet the Uruguayans in South Korea in 2017. “The team that played football won,” said Nunziata. “We knew we were up against a tough side, but we did well to come out on top. Now, we’ll enjoy this win and then start thinking about Uruguay tomorrow. Have we made history? Not yet. We’ll have made history if we win on Sunday.”

Nunziata named an unchanged line-up to the one that got that better of Colombia in the quarter-finals: joined by Giovane and Casadei in the middle, Prati took to the pitch in the deep-lying playmaker role, while Baldanzi was selected behind Esposito and Ambrosino. The Cittadella striker had the first chance of the match but was only able to head off target from Turicchia’s cross. Shortly afterwards, Prati, Ambrosino, Esposito and Baldanzi combined in a flowing move, with the latter seeing his shot saved by Kim Joonhong. The opening goal came in the 14th minute: through their high pressing, Italy managed to win the ball back and Turicchia picked out Casadei, who beat the goalkeeper with a brilliant first-time effort. It was the Reading midfielder’s seventh goal in six matches at this World Cup.

Italy’s lead lasted nine minutes: after going over to the monitor to review a coming together between Zanotti and Bae Junho in the area, the referee awarded a penalty to the South Koreans. Captain Lee Seungwon stepped up to take it and dispatched it perfectly. The Azzurrini had another chance before the break as Giovane combined with Esposito before firing narrowly wide. At the other end, Kim Yonghak escaped the attentions of Turicchia and, from the middle of the box, cleared the bar with his shot. He certainly wasn’t helped by a poor bounce on a pitch that has been played on numerous times over the past three weeks.

After the restart, Turicchia was denied by Kim Joonhong (50’), who also managed to keep out Giovane’s left-footed strike. The South Korean goalkeeper then made a brilliant stop to thwart Prati, who had met Casadei’s flick-on from Baldanzi’s corner with his head. Many thought it might have crossed the line, but, with no Goal Line Technology in place, the VAR room confirmed it hadn’t. In the 63rd minute, Desplanches did well to foil Lee Seungwon.

Four minutes later, Nunziata replaced Zanotti with Faticanti. Turicchia was moved to the right and Giovane switched to left-back as the Roma man took up a place in midfield alongside Prati and Casadei. There were another three changes after 82 minutes: Giovane, Baldanzi and Esposito came off, with Fontanarosa, Montevago and Pafundi all entering the fray. And it was the latter, just 17 years old, who won it with a wonderful free kick that left Kim Joonhong rooted to the spot. The Italy bench exploded with joy as the Azzurrini experienced another magical night. And they hope to do so again on Sunday.

ITALY 2-1 SOUTH KOREA

GOALSCORERS: 14' Casadei (I), 23' pen. S. W. Lee (K), 86’ Pafundi (I) 

ITALY (4-3-1-2): Desplanches; Zanotti (67’ Faticanti), Ghilardi, Guarino, Turicchia; Casadei, Prati, Giovane (82’ Fontanarosa); Baldanzi (82’ Pafundi); Esposito (82’ Montevago), Ambrosino (89’ Fiumanò). Substitutes: Zacchi, Sassi, Pisilli, Lipani, Degli Innocenti. Head Coach: Nunziata

SOUTH KOREA (4-2-3-1): J. Kim; Y. K. Cho, S. H. Choi, J. S. Kim, Y. H. Choi (93’ I. Hwang); H. B. Park (93’ S. J. Bae), S. Y. Kang; Y. H. Kim (62’ J. H. Lee), S. W. Lee, J. H. Bae; Y. J. Lee. Substitutes: J. H. Kim, H. N. Moon, C. W. Park, C. Lee, S.J. Kang, S. J. Lee. Head Coach: E. J. Kim 

REFEREE: Falcon (Argentina)
ASSISTANTS: Del Yesso-Rodriguez (Argentina) FOURTH OFFICIAL: Marouf (Egitto)
NOTE:  Ambrosino (I), Zanotti (I), J. S. Kim (C), H. B. Park (C), Faticanti (I) booked. Added time: 7', 6'

Schedule and results

QUARTER-FINALS (3-4 June)
Israel 3-2 Brazil
Colombia 1-3 ITALY
USA 0-2 Uruguay
South Korea 1-0 Nigeria

SEMI-FINALS (8 June)
Uruguay 1-0 Israel
ITALY 2-1 South Korea

FINALS: 11 June 

19:30 CEST: third place play-off Israel vs. South Korea
23:00 CEST: final Uruguay vs. ITALY

Squad list

Goalkeepers: Sebastiano Desplanches (Trento); Jacopo Sassi (Giugliano Calcio), Gioele Zacchi (Sassuolo);
Defenders: Filippo Fiumanò (Aquila Montevarchi); Alessandro Fontanarosa (Inter), Daniele Ghilardi (Mantova), Samuel Giovane (Ascoli), Gabriele Guarino (Empoli), Riccardo Turicchia (Juventus), Mattia Zanotti (Inter);
Midfielders: Tommaso Baldanzi (Empoli), Cesare Casadei (Reading F.C.), Duccio Degli Innocenti (Empoli), Giacomo Faticanti (Roma), Luca Lipani (Genoa), Niccolò Pisilli (Roma), Matteo Prati (SPAL);
Attackers: Giuseppe Ambrosino Di Bruttopilo (Cittadella), Francesco Pio Esposito (Inter), Daniele Montevago (Sampdoria), Simone Pafundi (Udinese).

Staff - Delegation Head: Marcello Nicchi; National Youth Team Coordinator: Maurizio Viscidi; Head Coach: Carmine Nunziata; Assistant Coach: Emanuele Filippini; Fitness Coach: Vito Azzone; Goalkeeping Coach: Fabrizio Ferron; Match Analyst: Marco Mannucci; Scout: Claudio Coppi; Doctors: Carmelo Papotto and Lorenzo Ticca; Physiotherapists: Giuseppe Galli and Tommaso Cannata; Nutritionist: Alessio Colli; Accompanying Director: Gianfranco Serioli; Secretary: Aldo Blessich; Press Office: Giuseppe Ingrati; Administration: Francesco Casella; Club Italia: Matteo Galdelli; Logistics: Carlo Fanano.

History

(number of Under-20 World Cups won)

Argentina (six), Brazil (five), Portugal (two), Serbia (two), Ghana (one) Spain (one), Russia (one), Germany (one), England (one), France (one), Ukraine (one, current champions).