Italy U-20 – Nigeria U-20

The African team will not be able to compete with the European team

Despite Italy travelling to the World Cup in Argentina as semi-finalists of the European Championship, their chances of beating Brazil in the first leg of Group D were slim. However, Carmine Nundziata's side opened the scoring in the 11th minute against the tournament's favourite. Imagine the surprise of the overflowed stands at Malvinas Argentinas when, instead of moving to a completely defensive mode, the Italian youth team kept beating the Brazilian team. By the 35th minute, the European side had taken advantage of two set-pieces, a corner and a penalty to make it 3-0. The Brazilians only came to their senses midway through the second half, but two goals from Santos striker Marcos Leonardo only gave them a decent lead to lose 2-3. Nigeria played their first game in the tournament against one of the weakest performers in Argentina's Mundial, the Dominican Republic. Despite being clear favorites, the Africans conceded a penalty in the middle of the first half, but immediately got back into the game courtesy of an own goal. The winning goal came midway through the second half after a dreadful mistake by the Dominican defender. Bosso's team won 2-1, but the victory left more than a bitter aftertaste. Bookmakers have the European side as favourites to win the upcoming game, with an odds of 1.74 to win. The Italian team has never won the World Youth Championship, although they have participated in it eight times. The Europeans' best achievement in the tournament is third place in 2017. Victory over Brazil has propelled the Italians into third place on the list of World Cup favourites. Meanwhile, Italy go into the second leg of the group stage having lost to no one for almost a year. Nigeria come to Argentina as semi-finalists for the African Championship. The team is one-and-a-half times more likely to have played in the World Youth Championships, reaching the final twice and losing there. In the meeting with the Dominican Republic, the Nigerians were woefully unfocused. If even close to this approach is taken in the game against Italy, the African team will be defeated.