Ukraine topped Group B with victory over Paraguay who will also advance to the last 16 of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Chile 2025™. Korea Republic finished third after a 2-1 win over Panama, and will now have to hope they finish among the four best third-placed sides.
Group A concludes later on today, as Egypt face Chile and New Zealand battle Japan.
Group B
Panama 1-2 Korea Republic
Panama goal: Kevin Walder (52)
Korea Republic goals: Kim Hyunmin (24), Shin Minha (58)
Korea Republic kept their qualifying hopes alive as one of the top third-placed teams thanks to a thrilling victory over Panama, who are now eliminated.
The Koreans dominated from the outset, with Chung Maho forcing Panama stopper Cecilio Burgess into an excellent save to deny a 25-yard free-kick. They continued to attack and took a well-taken lead following Kim Hyunmin’s exquisite curling effort into the top right-hand corner.
Panama fought back after the break and levelled the scores when Kairo Walters centred the ball to Kevin Walder, who slotted home with ease. But Korea Republic immediately responded and retook the lead as Shin Minha latched onto Son Seungmin’s corner with an acrobatic header.
Stat
Panama have now fallen at the group stage in six of their seven U-20 World Cup campaigns.
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Group B
Ukraine 2-1 Paraguay
Ukraine goal: Maksym Derkach (46), Matvii Ponomarenko (80)
Paraguay goal: Cesar Miko (69)
Ukraine sealed their place in first with a late win over Paraguay, who squeeze through in second place.
After a slow first half, things exploded into life after the break. A neat flick by Oleksandr Pyshchur found Danylo Krevsun who fed half-time substitute Maksym Derkach to sweep home just 29 seconds after the restart.
Paraguay fought back into the contest when Cesar Miko fired in from the left side of the box via a deflection. Ukraine wouldn’t be denied, though, as Matvii Ponomarenko picked the ball up midway in Paraguay’s half, surged forward and leathered a terrific shot into the bottom-left corner. Despite the defeat, Antolin Alcaraz’s side advanced ahead of Korea Republic on goals scored.
Quotes
“We got into the match very late. We tried in the second half to be more on the front foot, but the goal came so early, but I think the boys responded well to that adversity by drawing level with them. We ended up suffering another goal against, but those are things we need to work on and try not to suffer from as much in the next match.”
Antolin Alcaraz, Paraguay coach
Stat
Ukraine are now unbeaten in their last 14 U-20 World Cup matches.
