Uruguay vs Israel Prediction & Betting Tips - U20 World Cup

Prediction published on 06/06/2023, 07:05  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 08/06/2023 at 05:30 in Football Predictions

Uruguay are the only remaining South American country in this Argentina hosted FIFA Under-20 World Cup. A win over Israel will take them into the final where they will meet either Italy or South Korea. Uruguay are bidding to reach their third Under-20 World Cup final. 1997 saw La Celeste take an early lead but eventually lose 2-1 to Argentina. Ten years ago they lost a penalty shootout to a French team that included Paul Pogba. Four semi-finals have been lost by Uruguay, the most recent in 2017. This tournment has seen La Celeste Olimpica finish second behind England (who lost in the last 16) with six points. They beat Iraq and Tunisia but lost 3-2 to England. The last 16 saw Uruguay beat Gambia 1-0 and that was followed by a 2-0 victory over the USA in the quarter finals. Uruguay have only lost two of their last 14 matches and kept a clean sheet in four of the last five.

All of the four remaining countries in this FIFA Under-20 World Cup finished second in their group. Israel  are in the finals for the first time in their history. They began in Group C and finished three points behind Colombia with a win, a loss and a draw. They led Colombia in their opening match but ended up losing 2-1. A 1-1 draw with Senegal followed though their goal was scored by an opposition player. Their only group win came in their final fixture when coming from behind to defeat Japan 2-1 with a 92nd minute goal. The last 16 saw an even later winner as a 97th minute goal secured a 1-0 win over Uzbekistan. That took them into a semi-final against Brazil and it was another struggle. They twice trailed and needed a 93rd minute goal to take the match into extra time. Israel eventually ran out 3-2 winners. We go for Uruguay to beat the surprise semi-finalists.