One Arsenal player was eliminated but two progressed as matches from the u20 World Cup Round of 16 took place on Wednesday.

Three Arsenal players joined up with their countries for the u20 World Cup in May, and all three countries played their first knockout matches on Wednesday.

Marquinhos made his fourth start of the tournament for Brazil, as they thrashed Tunisia despite going down to 10 men in the first half.

Brazil were fortunate to already be 2-0 up at that stage, and they managed to maintain their two-goal advantage until second-half injury time, when a sudden rush of goals meant the match finished 4-1.

Marquinhos played the first 85 minutes of the match, though he didn’t add to his goal and two assists at the tournament so far.

Brazil will now face Israel in the next round, on June 3rd.

The evening didn’t go so well for Brooke Norton-Cuffy, who had linked up with the England u20s after his participation in the Championship playoff final with Coventry City.

Norton-Cuffy played the first hour of England’s match against Italy, coming off at 1-1. But Jarell Quansah conceded a late penalty with a handball, and the Italians won the match with the subsequent spot-kick.

With Brazil through and England out, the third Arsenal player involved was Alexei Rojas of Colombia.

Young goalkeeper Rojas didn’t start for Colombia on this occasion, but he watched his side win 5-1 against Slovakia.

Colombia will now take on England’s vanquishers Italy in the quarter-finals on June 3rd.

What is the Under-20 World Cup?

The 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup is the 23rd edition of the biennial international men’s youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA.

Originally set to be hosted by Indonesia in 2021, the tournament was postponed to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Indonesia was later stripped of hosting rights amidst protests over Israel’s participation, and Argentina was chosen as the new host.

Argentina is the second nation to host the U-20 World Cup twice, with Australia being the other.

The tournament features 24 teams qualified from six continental competitions.

The Dominican Republic and Israel make their debut in the competition, with the Dominican Republic qualifying for a FIFA tournament for the first time.

The matches will take place in four cities: La Plata, Mendoza, San Juan, and Santiago del Estero.

The top two teams of each group, along with the four best third-placed teams, advance to the round of sixteen.

The final 21-player squads include three goalkeepers and were chosen from preliminary squads of between 22 and 50 players.

Players must be born between January 1, 2003, and December 31, 2007 to be eligible to feature.

The tournament aims to showcase the best young talent in football and serves as a stepping stone for players to further their careers in professional clubs and national teams.