Spain hammered Tahiti 8-0 and Venezuela won on their tournament debut by beating Nigeria 1-0 at the under-20 World Cup on Friday.
Rampant Spain achieved their biggest ever under-20 win against Tahiti and were 4-0 up at halftime after Aaron Niguez and Emilio Nsue grabbed two each.
Substitute Kike added another two in the second half, while Ander Herrera and midfielder Fran Merida sealed the Group B rout.
Brazil holds the tournament record, beating Belgium 10-0 in 1997.
Before the tournament in Egypt, Venezuela had never qualified for any of FIFA’s world championships.
Yonathan Del Valle struck in the 45th minute of the South Americans’ Group B opener, shortly after Nigeria were reduced to 10 men. Lukman Haruna was sent off for stamping on a Venezuelan player’s leg.
“We’ve given Venezuela their first victory,” Del Valle said. “[Everyone] thought we were going to lose. That was a big mistake.”
Nigeria coach Samson Siaisa made no secret of his disappointment.
“Who can be pleased with defenders who can’t even defend?” Siaisa said. “I told them in the dressing room: ‘What is going on? ... How come you keep leaving strikers wide open?’”
In Group A, Italy goalkeeper Vincenzo Fiorillo spared his team an opening defeat, holding off Paraguay 0-0.
Italy’s Andrea Mazzarani struck the post with a free-kick in the ninth minute, but the Paraguayans controlled the rest of the game, forcing Fiorillo to make impressive saves.
“I’m happy with the performance, but not the result ... we had four or five chances to score, so I’m a little upset,” Paraguay coach Adrian Coria said.
“The main goal was to stand up to Italy and we did that really well. We had an outstanding day in midfield.”
Paraguay beat Brazil and helped eliminate six-time winners Argentina in qualifying for Egypt.
Hosts Egypt trounced Trinidad and Tobago 4-1 on Thursday to lead Group A with three points, while Italy and Paraguay have a point each.
Venezuela share the lead with Spain in Group B.
Champagne corks often pop and loud, boisterous cheers are usually heard around Constitution Dock when the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honors winner finishes in the Tasmanian state capital. There were no such celebrations this year when the defending champions on board LawConnect won the race in the early hours of yesterday morning, as it came about 24 hours after two sailors died on separate boats in sail boom accidents two hours apart on a storm-ravaged first night of the race. LawConnect, a 100-foot super maxi skippered by Australian tech millionaire Christian Beck, sailed up the River Derwent at just after 2:30am.
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
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