The Italian team ended Zambia's fairytale run at the tournament with a 3-2 win after extra time at the Suwon World Cup Stadium despite having Giuseppe Pezzella sent off in the first half.

England then joined Italy in the last four, edging Mexico 1-0 thanks to a goal just after the restart from Dominic Solanke at the Cheonan Sports Complex.

Zambia, competing in their first Under-20 World Cup quarter-final, started brightly against Italy and a shock was on the cards when Patson Daka gave them a fourth-minute lead.

The potential misery for the Italians was compounded when Pezzella received his marching orders shortly after for a shove on Edward Chilufya, which was adjudged to have denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity by referee Roddy Zambrano.

However, the European nation recovered and scored an equaliser early in the second half through Riccardo Orsolini's back post header.

Fashion Sakala looked to have given Zambia one foot in the semi-finals when he found the net with six minutes to go but substitute Federico Dimarco came off the bench to restore parity for Italy in the 88th minute with a superbly-taken free-kick.

Neither side were able to find a winner in a chaotic end to the 90 minutes, before Luca Vido nodded home Dimarco's corner in extra time to put Italy in front.

Their defence managed to hold firm as Zambia went in search of a leveller which proved elusive as Italy secured their spot in the semi-finals for the first time.

Italy's opponents in the last four will be England, who were also reduced to 10 men in their battling victory over Mexico.

Solanke proved to be the match winner for England as he collected a pin-point pass from captain Lewis Cook before arrowing a low shot into the net two minutes after half-time.

England's chances of progressing then suffered a blow when Joshua Onomah was dismissed with 18 minutes to go but they held on to earn their first semi-final appearance for 24 years.

Italy and England are due to clash in Jeonju on Thursday (June 8).