Argentina lost 2 to 0 with Morocco in the end of the Chile Under 20 World Cup 2025 and was left at the gates of glory, which went to a very orderly and disciplined African team.
The team of Diego Placenteunlike what had happened to him throughout the entire contest, he entered asleep at the National Stadium of Chile and he paid dearly for it: he was stopped badly after a long, frontal ball and Santino Barbi had to foul Yassir Zabiri (6′).
The African team used a green card asking for expulsion and, although referee Maurizio Mariani finally determined a foul outside the area and a yellow card, in a controversial ruling, himself Zabiri took charge of the free kick and opened the scoring in the 12th minutewith some complicity from Barbi.
The Albiceleste, then, was forced to come back, a situation in which it had never found itself during the World Cup.
With the style that took them to the final, Morocco gave the ball and the field to Argentina, who with Gianluca Prestianni as a beacon on the left wing tried to unbalance. In one of his attacks, the forward was fouled, but Maher Carrizo’s free kick went wide.
The six-time world champions at youth level found it difficult to break the red team’s second defensive line and attempts were limited to crosses or individual arrests. And around half an hour (29′) another blow came.
Prestianni lost it in the attack and Byar made him run. Maamaa hell for the Albiceleste, who overwhelmed Villalba and threw a great center for the volley of a solitary Zabiri. Double from Famalicao’s forward and a very complicated outlook for Argentina.
The South American team, however, came out to play with attitude and, on two occasions, came very close to scoring a goal. First, a pile-up by Prestianni along the baseline ended in a save by Gomis and then, already in added time, Delgado put Silvetti on the run with a great pass, who came on in the first half for Acuña (34′), but the Inter Miami player wasted a very clear chance.
Those led by Placente seemed solid and close to 1-2, although they were also on the verge of being sentenced: Maama’s shot in the last one found a great save from Villalba on the line.
Morocco, comfortable having the ball a quarter of the time, knew that any counterattack could be lethal for an Argentina that knew it had to burn ships in attack, even if that meant being careless in defense.
Looking ahead to the complement, Placente moved the bench again, sending Andrada and Fernández to the field instead of Pérez and Villalba, who had struggled one-on-one with Maama. Subiabre then entered for Sarco, moving pieces in attack to try to find the formula to break Morocco’s defensive siege.
But Argentina, despite playing decisively on the Moroccan field, clashed again and again with its imprecision. Neither with centers nor overflowing nor touching the middle nor kicking from a distance could he break the defensive order rival. Nor with the green cards in search of penalties that were not.
Little by little, also playing against their nervousness, which resulted in several yellow cards, the Albiceleste, who with self-love did not stop insisting and searching, began to fade. And the result, after an excellent World Cup, in which he counted his six appearances in victories, did not move again.
In short, the great Placente team was left at the gates of glory for the second time in its history (the other, in 1983) and was unable to win his seventh World Cup.
Morocco, for its part, made great history: won the first World Cup, of any category, in the history of North Africa. In this category, Ghana had celebrated in 2009, while in the Under 17 Nigeria has 5 titles (record) and Ghana, 2.
Who did the team led by Mohamed Ouahbi? In the group stage, they went to Spain and Brazil, becoming the leader in the group that included Mexico, and in the knockout stage they went down to South Korea, the United States, France – on penalties – and, today, Argentina.
