Cesare Casadei scores again as Italy advance; Brazil lose despite Andrey Santos assist

Cesare Casadei is turning the U20 World Cup in Argentina into his own private star-making expedition, with the 20-year-old getting on the scoresheet once again in last night’s quarterfinal against Colombia, adding an assist and hitting the woodwork once as well.

That’s his sixth goal of the tournament to lead all players, and of course he also captained the team, who are now just two wins away from winning Italy’s first ever U20 World Cup title.

Italy took the lead inside of ten minutes, with Casadei timing his leap to perfection to head home a corner. He then turned provider thirty minutes later, again with his head, setting up Tommaso Baldanzi to double their advantage. Italy added a third early on in the second half to keep Colombia safely at bay, and will now face the winner of South Korea versus Nigeria in Thursday’s semifinal.

We figured the tournament would also be a chance for Andrey Santos to keep impressing, but his journey ended last night as Brazil suffered a surprise defeat against Israel, 3-2 in extra time, despite taking the lead twice. Santos set up the second of those goals, early on in extra-time, with a sweet backheel flick, but it would not be enough as Israel equalized just a couple minutes later, then took the lead not long after that.

Santos will presumably return to Vasco da Gama to continue his loan for a few more weeks before joining up with Chelsea for preseason (assuming he gets a work permit).