Adama Bojang, Kendry Paez, Luka Romero, Lee Seungwon and the magnificent form of USA feature.
88 - Lee Seungwon amazingly sprinted 88 yards to score Korea Republic’s first goal on the tournament. The rapid No 8 was just outside his own six-yard box, defending a France corner. Merely 14 seconds after it was taken, Seungwon had struck the ball into the net from just inside the opposite penalty area.
67 - Luka Romero was 67 yards from goal when he executed the palatial pirouette that lost two New Zealanders. The Argentina boy wonder carried it forward and, from 30 yards out, unleashed a thunderbolt into the top corner. A few days earlier the 18-year-old had become the youngest Argentinian to score in the competition since a 17-year-old Lionel Messi in 2005. Romero and Slovakia’s Mate Szolgai are the only players to have netted twice from outside the box at Argentina 2023.
46 - Forty-six years had passed since France suffered group-stage elimination until Landry Chauvin’s cast fell at the first hurdle here. Bernard Genghini, whose extra-time goal helped France beat Belgium 4-2 and win bronze at Mexico 1986, was part of the team that fell in the group stage at Tunisia 1977. Thereafter, Les Bleus had made it past the group stage in six successive U-20 World Cups until Argentina 2023.
33 - Thirty-three matches had been finalised before Argentina 2023’s first 0-0 draw, which Iraq and England played out. It had never taken as long for a goalless draw to occur in the tournament. Australia 1981, Chile 1987 and Saudi Arabia 1989 featured zero nil-nils, but they all involved only 32 games.
28 - Twenty-eight of the 106 goals scored were headers – a record for a Fifa U-20 World Cup group stage this century. All three of Alejo Veliz’s goals for Argentina were netted with his head, while Italy’s Cesare Casadei and Jean Pedroso of Brazil registered two headers apiece.
24 - Twenty-four years after Chris Albright and Shaun Tsakiris represented USA at the Fifa U-20 World Cup, the former’s cousin Quinn Sullivan and the latter’s son Niko Tsakiris did the same. Tsakiris, 17, became just the third American under the age of 18 to score in the tournament after Jozy Altidore and Josh Sargent.
20 - Adama Bojang's goal for The Gambia against Honduras, after only 20 seconds, was the fourth-fastest in U-20 World Cup history. The four quickest were now all scored by Africans. Nigerians John Owoeri and Monday Odiaka scored after 14 seconds against Canada in 1985 and 18 seconds against the Netherlands in 2005, while the Senegalese Amadou Sagna struck after just 9.6 seconds against Tahiti in 2019.
17 - Seventeen U-20 World Cups is what it took for USA to register maximum points in the group stage. Mikey Varas’s side beat Ecuador 1-0, Fiji 3-0 and Slovakia 2-0 to become one of only two teams, alongside Argentina, to progress with nine points. Furthermore, the US, whose net was protected by Chelsea’s Gaga Slonina, were the only nation not to concede in the group stage.
16 - Kendry Paez, at 16 years and 22 days, became the youngest goalscorer in U-20 World Cup history by netting against Fiji. The Ecuador playmaker took the record from Mohamed Al Kharraz, who was 11 days older when he netted for Bahrain against Scotland at Chile 1987.
15.3 - Group D averaged a staggering 15.3 corners per game. Its 92 overall was the most in a U-20 World Cup group this century. Italy-Nigeria provided an Argentina 2023-high of 19 corners.
9 - Ecuador’s 9-0 win over Fiji was the third-biggest victory in U-20 World Cup history. Brazil, propelled by an Alex hat-trick, battered Belgium 10-0 in the Malaysia 1997 quarterfinals, while nine goals from Erling Haaland inspired Norway to a 12-0 reverse of Honduras at Poland 2019. Ecuador registered in 90 minutes in Santiago del Estero, a figure it took them their first nine games in the competition to reach.