Ecuador U20 vs Korea Republic U20 Match Analysis & Prediction
02/06/2023 12:00 am
Ecuador U20 and Korea Republic U20 meet at the Estadio Unico Madre de Ciudades for a last 16 tie in the U20 World Cup on Friday morning.
Both nations performed brilliantly in the last edition back in 2019, but one will be heading home sooner than hoped in this early knockout game.
Since the setup reconvened last year after a brilliant performance in coming third at the 2019 U20 World Cup, Ecuador’s youngsters have won just eight of their 24 matches.
They reached the tournament very narrowly, picking up just four points from five qualifying matches to sneak in as the final qualifier from South America.
Miguel Bravo’s side showed great spirit to fight back from adversity to make it through though, after losing their opening game in stoppage tim.
They responded by coming from behind to defeat Slovakia, giving them the upper hand before facing whipping boys Fiji in the final group game.
That proved no challenge for Ecuador as the recorded the biggest win of the group stage by beating the islanders 9-0 on Friday.
The big win sealed a second-placed finish in Group B, behind USA – who beat them in that opening game – and back-to-back victories for the first time in almost 20 matches should bring confidence.
Beaten finalists in 2019, South Korea finished second in a group containing France, but Les Bleus’ youngsters were knocked out after losing to the Asian side in the opening game.
That made Korea huge favourites to take top spot, but after going down 2-0 to Honduras, Kim Eun-jung will have been delighted his side fought back to claim a point.
After Gambia beat both Honduras and France, Korea knew they had to beat the African nation to top the group, but they could only scrap out a goalless draw as both teams progressed.
Their tally of five points was still the best out of any Asian nation in the group stage though, despite being losing semi-finalists to Uzbekistan in the recent U20 Asian Cup.
Ecuador U20 vs. Korea Republic U20 Head to head
These two nations have previously met on just two occasions, with each team winning once.
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30/03/2017Ecuador U202Korea Republic U200U20 National Team Friendlies
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11/06/2019Ecuador U200Korea Republic U201FIFA U20 World Cup
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02/06/2023N/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
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02/06/2023N/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
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02/06/2023Ecuador U20N/AKorea Republic U20N/AFIFA U20 World Cup
Ecuador U20 Team News
Nilson Angulo is the standout name in the Ecuador squad, having already featured for the senior side while turning out for Anderlecht at club level.
Angulo should start wide in attack, supoorting Justin Cuero, whose three-goal tally so far is only bettered in the competition by Italy’s Cesare Casadei.
Ecuador U20's Last 5 Matches
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09/02/2023Ecuador U201Venezuela U201CONMEBOL U20
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13/02/2023Ecuador U202Paraguay U201CONMEBOL U20
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20/05/2023United States U201Ecuador U200FIFA U20 World Cup
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24/05/2023Ecuador U202Slovakia U201FIFA U20 World Cup
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26/05/2023Ecuador U209Fiji U200FIFA U20 World Cup
Korea Republic U20 Team News
Kim Joon-hong was banned for the draw with Gambia having picked up bookings in both of their first two group matches, but he should replace Moon Hyeon-ho in goal here.
Choi Seok-hyun was dismissed late on for two yellow cards against Honduras and also missed the final group game, but will be available for selection again.
Korea Republic U20's Last 5 Matches
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12/03/2023Korea Republic U20(E)3China PR U201AFC U20 Asian Cup
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15/03/2023Uzbekistan U20(P)0Korea Republic U200AFC U20 Asian Cup
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22/05/2023France U201Korea Republic U202FIFA U20 World Cup
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26/05/2023Korea Republic U202Honduras U202FIFA U20 World Cup
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29/05/2023Korea Republic U200Gambia U200FIFA U20 World Cup
Ecuador U20 vs. Korea Republic U20: Odds and Predictions
Main Prediction
1X2: 1
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