France, with a brace from Florian Thauvin, qualified for the first time in its history to a U-20 World Cup final after beating Ghana 2-1 in the first semifinal on Wednesday in Bursa.
France, with a brace from Florian Thauvin, qualified for the first time in its history to a U-20 World Cup final after beating Ghana 2-1 in the first semifinal on Wednesday in Bursa.
The French rival on Saturday in Istanbul in the title game will be the winner of the second semifinal match between Uruguay and Iraq (18h00 GMT). The loser of that match will play the same day with the Ghanaians for third place.
Thauvin (43) put France ahead at the end of the first period which the Europeans dominated. But Assifuah Ebenezer, with his fifth goal of the tournament, equalized at the start of the second (47) before a new Thauvin goal (74) sealed the game.
It was the second time that France played in the semifinals. They finished in fourth place two years ago in Colombia. This time the team could take a step forward, which confirms the good feelings of the ‘Generation of 93′, which came as a favorite to this tournament and is just a step away from the crown.
There was no revenge for Ghana, which had already fallen in this tournament to the French in both teams debut match (3-1 in Istanbul). It was the only win for the Europeans in the group stage as they came in second in Group A.
But the team woke up after the group stage winning their next two matches against Turkey and Uzbekistan by a combined 8-1 score.
Text and photo: AFP
Edition: conmebol.com
