U-20 World Cup: Argentina vs Colombia, for the semi-finals: preview, line-up, schedules and how to watch on TV and online

Spanish CNN
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The U-20 World Cup will have a South American finalist. Argentina and Colombia will meet this Wednesday at the Julio Martínez Pradanos National Stadium located in Santiago, Chile. The Albicelestes and the Cafeteros enter this decisive duel with rising levels, but only one will be able to keep the dream of making an Olympic comeback alive.

Argentina walks with perfect rhythm here. Five matches, five victories, four of which were with more than a goal difference. After sweeping the group stage, those led by Diego Placente beat Nigeria 4-0 in the round of 16 and beat Mexico 2-0 in the quarterfinals.

The Albiceleste produced their most convincing performance against the Tri team, even more than against the Africans, who sometimes put them in difficulty. Against the Aztecs, Argentina controlled the match for the entire 90 minutes, helped by an early goal that made it easier for them against a Mexican team that tried to play patiently, but got completely angry in the end.

The only bad news received by the team led by Diego Placente is the injury of Valente Pierani, who, like another injured starter, Álvaro Montoro, will miss Wednesday’s duel. Maher Carrizo, scorer against Nigeria and Mexico, will also not be there due to the accumulation of warnings.

However, the good news is that the substitutions seem to be working just as well: Gianluca Prestianni was the most disruptive player against Mexico, Juan Villalba was impenetrable in defense and Mateo Silvetti scored again for the second game in a row.

The semi-final comes to Colombia at their best moment in the competition. The cafe team had a group stage with ups and downs. It is true that she did not lose, but after starting with a victory, she added two draws that filled her with doubts, especially due to the low offensive production, a typical characteristic of recent Colombian teams.

But the attacking numbers came in the round of 16, where they beat South Africa 3-1 on an afternoon in which they suffered needlessly from not knowing how to play with a partial 1-0 advantage. In the quarter-finals, they faced a power, Spain, against whom they confirmed their nickname of a good team. The Europeans overcame a 0-1 deficit in just three minutes, but Colombia showed courage not to despair and eventually found the reward to win 3-2.

If Colombia is in the semi-final, it is largely thanks to one of the tournament’s scorers, Neyser Villareal. The center forward arrived with wet gunpowder, but was eliminated with two goals in the round of 16 and three in the quarter-finals. The big problem for the tricolor team is that Villareal, like Carlos Sarabia, will not play against Argentina due to the accumulation of yellow cards.

However, those led by César Torres have something to look forward to, especially on the left flank, where Óscar Perea, Jordan Barrera (he was injured against Spain and is doubtful) and Juan Arizala can wreak havoc.

They have only met once at a U-20 World Cup. It was 2005, when Argentina won in agonizing fashion 2-1, with goals from Otálvaro for Colombia, and Messi and Barroso for Argentina.

Argentina: Santino Barbi; Dylan Gorosito, Tobias Ramirez, Juan Villalba, Julio Soler; Tobías Andrada, Milton Delgado, Valentino Acuña; Gianluca Prestianni, Ian Subiabre and Alejo Sarco. DT: Diego Placente.

Colombia: Jordan Garcia; Julián Bazán, Simón García, Yeimar Mosquera, Juan Arizala; Kener Gonzalez, Jordan Barrera, Elkin Rivero; Oscar Perea, Emilio Aristizábal and Joel Canchimbo.

In the United States: Universo (in Spanish).

In Argentina: Telefe and DSports, in addition to the latter’s streaming service DGo.

In Colombia: Caracol TV, RCN TV, says.

In Mexico: TUDN, ViX.

In Spain: Teledeporte, RTVE Play, FIFA+.

Argentina and Colombia will enter the field knowing which rival awaits them in the grand final of the tournament, since in the first round on Wednesday, Morocco and France will face each other.

The Africans have just eliminated South Korea in the round of 16 (2-1) and the United States in the quarter-finals, where they took advantage of an afternoon of terror from the North American defense to win 3-1.

France, which had been beaten by the United States in the group stage (0-3), first beat previously perfect Japan in the round of 16 (1-0 in overtime) and undefeated Norway in the quarter-finals (2-1). The Gauls will not have in their ranks the great hope Saimon Bouabré, whom his club (Neom SC) has decided to release prematurely.