BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
When the Flying Eagles face Korea Republic in the quarter finals of the FIFA U20 World Cup at Santiago del Estero Stadium, it will be the third time the two teams will be meeting at the World Cup.
They have however met outside the framework of the World Cup when the Flying Eagles beat Korea 1-0 in a friendly match played on 5 May 2011 ahead of the 2011 U20 World Cup held in Colombia.
At the 2011 edition, Nigeria managed to get to the quarter-finals before losing 3-2 to an Alexandre Lacazette-inspired France after extra time. Korea Republic on the other hand crashed out in penalty shoot-out in their Round of 16 encounter with Spain.
In the two times they had met at the U20 World Cup, honours are even. Korea beat the Flying Eagles 2-1 when they met at the group stage in 2005 in the Netherlands.
Nigeria got to the championship match of the tournament, losing 2-1 to a Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina.
When the Flying Eagles met South Korea again at the 2013 edition in Turkey, Nigeria won the group stage encounter 1-0 at Istanbul.
Sunday match is the trilogy, a sort of tiebreaker for the two teams as a winner must emerge.
They may not be easy meat for the Flying Eagles to chew. Korea Republic are regular participants at the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Only once have they failed to make it at the last 10 editions and Argentina 2023 is their 16th appearance overall.
Their biggest feat came in 2019, when they progressed all the way through to the final having overcome Japan, Senegal and Ecuador in the knockout stages before losing to Ukraine.
Pivotal to their impressive showing in 2019 was Lee Kang-in, who became only the second Asian player after Ismail Matar (United Arab Emirates, 2003) to win the adidas Golden Ball, joining the likes of Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi in receiving the honour.
Korea Republic boast an excellent recent record of qualifying from their group at the FIFA U-20 World Cup, having done so in each of their last five appearances.
The 2019 runners-up secured their place in Argentina at the 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup, in which they were only denied in the final via a penalty shoot-out against the host nation Uzbekistan who went on to win the tournament.
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