WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Fiji pulled off a major upset at the Under-20 World Cup by beating Honduras 3-0 on Thursday, boosting their chances of making it to the knockout round.
Playing at their first World Cup and after losing to Germany 8-1 in its opening game, Fiji produced a turnaround performance that placed the Pacific island nation ahead of some of the sport's powers in the race for the round of 16.
Fiji's Iosefu Verevou, who had scored against Germany, scored the opening goal after 14 minutes. Saula Waqa stunned Honduras with a second goal five minutes later and an own goal before half-time completed the upset.
Fiji may be the Oceania champions but their players are amateurs and a win over a team playing at its fifth U20 World Cup was a surprise.
"We planned to press hard from the start and that is exactly what we did," said Fiji coach Frank Farina, a former Australia international and coach. "This allowed us to take chances and frustrated our opponents.
"We are known for being strong in defense and have proven we can also score. Our boys have realized that they can play at this level and that they do deserve to be here."
Also on Thursday, both Germany and Brazil moved comfortably into the knockout rounds with their second straight wins.
Germany defeated Uzbekistan 3-0, Marc Stendera recording a brace around Kevin Akpoguma's goal.
Brazil had to come from behind in the second half to beat Hungary 2-1.
A goalkeeping howler allowed Bence Mervo to open the scoring for Hungary with a long shot in the eighth minute, but two yellow cards to Krisztian Tamas inside four minutes allowed Brazil back in the game.
Danilo equalised with a header five minutes after the break. Gabriel Jesus later drew a foul in the box and Andreas Pereira scored the resulting penalty for the winner.
Nigeria bounced back from their opening loss to Brazil to comfortably beat North Korea 4-0.
The first half was scoreless but Nigeria seized control with a quick double by Saviour Godwin in the 48th and 51st minutes. Kingsley Sokari made it 3-0 with a powerful shot from the edge of the area in the 71st minute and substitute Success Isaac completed the scoring nine minutes later.
"It's not all about winning but it's about entertaining the crowd and that's something that our side did," Nigeria coach Manu Garba said.