Spain close in on knockout stage

Spain stepped up their challenge at the FIFA U-20 World Cup with a narrow defeat of Zambia in their second Group B fixture, but Scotland's hopes are hanging by a thread after a second successive defeat.

First-half fillip
Ginés Meléndez's side had gone into the finals in Canada with a big reputation having lifted the UEFA European Under-19 Championship in Poland last summer, although they made a slow start to the competition and needed two goals in the final 20 minutes to rescue a 2-2 draw against Uruguay in their opening fixture on Sunday. Spain made no such mistake at the Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, however, taking the lead on the half-hour through Mario Suárez's penalty before Juan Manuel Mata added a second from Diego Capel's pinpoint left-wing cross ten minutes later.

Jordan showdown
Although Zambia pulled a goal back with 16 minutes left through William Njobvu, Spain held on and now lead the section with four points, level with Uruguay who overcame Jordan 1-0. "Zambia were magnificent today, and they made it very hard for us," said Meléndez, whose side conclude their group campaign against Jordan on Saturday knowing victory will guarantee a place in the last 16. "We really suffered in the last few minutes. After we got the second goal we were well on top, but we fell away a little in the second half and they took advantage by causing us problems."

Scotland suffer
The side Spain vanquished in last year's U19 final, Scotland, are staring elimination in the face having followed Sunday's 3-1 loss to Japan with a 2-0 defeat against Nigeria in Victoria. The African side's captain Ezekiel Bala - who plays his club football in Norway with FC Lyn Oslo - opened the scoring four minutes into the second half at the Royal Athletic Stadium after Solomon Owello had taken advantage of some static Scotland defending. Jamie Adams then spurned a great chance to equalise, heading over when well-placed, and Bala confirmed Nigeria's place in the second round, tapping in a rebound in the 78th minute.

'Lot of talent'
Scotland are therefore bottom of Group F after Japan's 1-0 win against Costa Rica in Wednesday's other game - a result which also took Japan through - and know victory against Costa Rica on Saturday is essential if they are to have any hope of staying in the competition. "Nigeria are a good team with a lot of talent," said Scotland team manager Archie Gemmill. "I don't know how many games they've played, but they may have been a little bit more match fit than us since we haven't had an awful lot of football in the last six weeks."