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Summary Title-favourites Argentina and Brazil picked up easy wins to reach 2nd round of the U-20 World Cup.
Title-favorites Argentina and Brazil picked up easy wins to reach the second round of the Under-20 World Cup, while England is likely to advance despite drawing all its three matches 0-0.Brazil routed Panama 4-0 and Argentina beat North Korea 3-0, winning their groups and securing a berth in the knockout phase.Mexico drew England and also advanced, while Egypt progressed by beating Austria 4-0. Panama, North Korea, and Austria were eliminated.Inter Milan playmaker Philippe Coutinho scored twice to lead Brazil over Panama. Henrique opened the scoring in the 40th minute, and Philippe Coutinho added to the lead in first-half stoppage time and in the 52nd. Dudu completed the scoring in the 89th.Brazil won Group E with seven points. Egypt also finished with seven points, but trailed Brazil on goal difference. Panama and Austria were eliminated with one point each.Mohamed Ibrahim scored three second-half goals in Egypts victory over Austria in Cartagena. The Egyptians will face Argentina in the round-of-16.Brazils opponent in the second round will be either Saudi Arabia or Nigeria. It will most likely be the Saudis, unless they manage to beat the Africans in their last group game on Saturday.Argentina won Group F with seven points from three matches, three points more than Mexico, which dominated against England but was not able to capitalize on its scoring opportunities.England is playing without its top players because more than 30 eligible players were not released for national team duty by their clubs due to preseason training commitments.The top two teams in each of the six groups advance to the knockout stage and are joined by the top four third-place teams. The group stage ends Saturday.Argentina has won five of the past eight U-20 titles and six overall the most by any nation. Ghana beat Brazil in the final of the last World Cup.
