WARSAW, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine reached their first semifinal at the FIFA U-20 World Cup, Poland as they overcame Colombia 1-0 on Friday in Lodz.
Ukraine set up a semifinal clash against Italy who defeated a 10-man Mali 4-2 in another quarterfinal on Friday.
Ukraine were off to a good start as forward Danylo Sikan capitalized on confusion from the Colombians' defense and shot home in the 11th minute.
Despite a superior ball possession rate, Colombia looked much less efficient as only one of their 12 attempts was on target.
In anther quarterfinal, Italy were up a man most of the match against Mali who fell 1-0 behind just after 12 minutes due to the own goal from Ibrahima Kone before Ousmane Diakite received a straight red card nine minutes later.
However, a fighting Mali equalized twice through Sekou Koita in the 38th minute and then via Mohamed Camara in the 79th minute.
Andrea Pinamonti scored for Italy in the 60th minute before he converted a penalty kick in the 83rd. Davide Frattesi was on target one minute later to seal the hard fought win for Italy.
The two sides will meet in the semifinals next Tuesday in Gdynia.
