Jakarta, IO – The Argentina U-17 national team successfully advanced to the round of 16 after trashing Poland 4-0 in the Group D match at the Jakarta International Stadium (JIS), Friday (17/11) afternoon.
From the start, Argentina appeared very aggressive and dominated the game. A number of opportunities were created but none of them resulted in a goal. Diego Placente’s team was only able to break the deadlock in the 34th minute through Thiago Laplace’s goal after taking advantage of the chaos in front of the Polish goal during a corner kick. The 1-0 score lasted until the first half ended.
In the second half, Argentina kept up the offensive. Just a few seconds after the match started, Argentina widened their lead through Agustin Ruberto’s goal with a horizontal kick. Argentina’s then became increasingly unstoppable, the team nicknamed the Albiceleste added two more goals through Ian Subiabre in the 52nd minute and Santiago Lopez in the 86th minute. With this result, Argentina tops Group D with six points and secured a ticket to the round of 16.
Meanwhile, the next match at the same stadium saw Brazil clashing with England. In this match, Brazil managed to win narrowly with a score of 2-1.
Brazil, hungry for victory, kept up the pressure from the beginning. Phelipe Leal’s team opened a 1-0 lead thanks to Kaua Elias’ goal in the 43rd minute. A wild ball in the penalty box from Estevao’s kick was struck by Elias in the penalty box and translated into goal.
The Samba team again added to their lead in the 54th minute with Da Mata’s rising header helping the attack using a measured pass from the left side to shake the England goal which made the score 2-0.
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England, desperate to catch up with a two-goal deficit, were awarded a penalty in the 71st minute. Pedro Lima’s violation of Joel Ndala led to the referee’s decision after observing the Video Assistant Referee (VAR). Ndala, who stepped up as a penalty taker, was able to carry out his duty well. The score of 2-1 lasted until the referee blew the long whistle to signal the end of the second half.
This defeat did not change England’s position at the top of the standings with six points. The team coached by Ryan Garry qualified as group winners because they were superior on goal difference over Brazil who finished as runners up and Iran who finished third with both collecting six points.
(IO/Faisal Ramadhan & Septo Kun Wijaya)