Colombia delighted their passionate, colorful and enthusiastic fans with a 2-0 convincing win over Italy in the opening match of Group E at the FIFA World Youth Championship on Sunday.

Two second-half goals by Wason Renteria and a majestic strike by substitute Fredy Guarin sealed the win for Columbia, though it had seemed for a time that Colombia's hard work may only be rewarded with a draw.

The South American team seemed to be held at bay in the first half as their ferocious attacks were absorbed up by a well-organized defence of Italy.

Their hard work finally paid off when Dayro Moreno came off the bench after the restart. The striker immediately had Italy rattled as his deflected cross landed on the roof of the net and even more so when he forced a reflex save from Italian goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano.

In the 76th minute Renteria finally put Colombia 1-0 ahead when he volleyed the ball past Viviano from Harrison Otalvaro's precise cross.

Italy were almost totally reliant on rare counter attacks whenever they were able to get the ball out of their own half, but Graziano Pelle will have been embarrassed to have wasted one of the more promising openings by blasting his snatched shot a long way wide.

Pelle could have redeemed himself with the clock ticking down, but his volley brought even greater acrobatics out of Libis Arenas in the Colombian goal to deny Italy an equalizer.

Guarin put the result beyond doubt in stoppage time with a thundering right-footer into the top corner. Viviano did well to get his fingertips to it, but he had no hope of keeping it out.

Colombian yellow, blue and red dominated the Willem II Stadium, both in the crowded grandstands and out on the pitch as Italy failed to contain their impressive opponents from South America. A delighted Colombia coach Eduardo Lara said afterwards: "When the players came out for the warm-up and saw so many Colombians here, we realized it was going to be like a home game. I told my players then that we must win this match for them and they did."

Italy coach Paolo Berrettini was understandably downcast afterwards. "We weren't so bad in the first half, but in the second Colombia were the only team out there. Colombia have had a year to prepare for this tournament, whereas we have only really had the last four days after the long season," he said.

Reigning champions Brazil began the defence of their crown with a scoreless draw against an impressive Nigeria in Group F's opening match in Emmen.

In an even and rapidly entertaining contest, strikers Diego Tardelli of Brazil and Solomon Okoronkwo of Nigeria both had chances to grab the winner but, in the end, defence won the day..

"I am very satisfied," said Nigeria coach Samson Siasia afterwards. "We played more guys in midfield because Brazil like to dominate possession and it paid off."

Switzerland came from behind to defeat South Korea 2-1 in the other game of the Group F played on Sunday.

In a highly entertaining encounter, South Korea took the lead through Shin Young-Rok but two goals in five first-half minutes from Goran Antic and Johan Vonlanthen enabled the Swiss to grab the points and move to the top of the table following the 0-0 draw between Brazil and Nigeria earlier.

It was a bright beginning under the incessant rain. Both sides were at full strength or close to it and confident enough to go for the jugular from the whistle.

The first goal came in the 26th minute when forward Park Chu-young sprayed the ball out left, Baek's shot was parried but only to Shin Young-Rok and the masked man found the net with ease.

Switzerland hit in the equalizer two minutes later through Goran Antic who met a a superb raking ball from the right by midfielder Reto Ziegler and slid it home.

In the 33rd minute another pinpoint pass by Ziegler from the right found Johan unmarked inside the box and the Brescia striker's glancing header picked up pace off the wet turf and skidded into the far corner to give them the win.

"Initially we had won the midfield battle," said South Korean coach Park Sung-Wha after the game. "But I think we lost concentration after our goal and allowed them to hit back."

"Korea are a very good side and I'm happy we came up against them in the first match," Switzerland coach Pierre-Andre Schuermann told reporters. "We had a good opening period but they came at us in the second half and we struggled to win the match at the end."

Source: Xinhua