Argentina set up Ivory Coast clash

Argentina booked themselves a place in the Fifa Under-17 World Cup quarterfinals after beating Tunisia 3-1 in Dubai thanks to fine goals from Joaquin Ibanez and Sebastian Driussi.

The South American champions teed-up a last-eight meeting with African counterparts Ivory Coast after German Ferreyra and Chiheb Jbeli had seen the game level at halftime before Ibanez and Driussi settled the match.

Neither team had cruised into the knockout stages, though Argentina had topped their group, but La Albiceleste flew out of the traps in the Rashid Stadium thanks to Ferreyra. Within the first two minutes of the game, the Velez Sarsfield midfielder got on the end of Driussi's flicked header from a short corner to volley home.

Chances were in short supply during the first period, with Emanuel Mammana and Luis Leszczuk going close for Argentina either side of Hazem Haj Hassem's long-range effort for Tunisia.

However, with coaches Humberto Grondona and Abdelhay Ben Soltane formulating their halftime team talks, the latter was given a boost as Jbeli equalised for the north Africans, capping off a slick move as he slotted the ball into the bottom left corner.

Any jubilation and growing hopes the Carthage Eaglets were feeling were deflated just eight minutes after the break, as Ibanez swung the pendulum heavily towards the blue-and-white camp with a delightful finish. Driussi was involved again as his pass found Leszczuk, but when his effort was charge down, Ibanez improvised superbly to back-heel beyond Sabri Ben Hessen.

Argentina were very much in charge by this point, and Driussi could have scored twice before finally capping off his impressive performance with a goal.

With less than 20 minutes to go, the striker collected a long pass, holding Marouane Sahraoui at bay, flicked the ball into space with his right foot before volleying in between post and goalkeeper from the edge of the penalty area.