FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007

Here are the groups:

Group A
Canada
Austria
Chile
Congo

Group B
Spain
Uruguay
Zambia
Jordan

Group C
Mexico
Portugal
Gambia
New Zealand

Group D
Brazil
South Korea
Poland
USA

Group E
Argentina
Czech Republic
North Korea
Panama

Group F
Costa Rica
Japan
Nigeria
Scotland


At halftime Poland is beating Brazil 1-0 thanks to a free kick by a player whose name I won't even attempt to spell. Brazil is looking distinctly average, they have no ideas in attack whatsoever even after Poland had a man sent off. So far I've seen nothing special in Pato. The Brazilian that's impressed me most so far is Leandro Lima, does anyone have more info on this guy?

I'm sure Abraão has mentioned him before ... and if he hasn't he can tell us all about him

It always surprises that a team dominating possession can't at least have more shots on goal. Brazil looked like their senior team vs Mexico earlier in the week.

On another note, good to see 55,000 attendance for football in Montreal

Originally Posted by rezag

It always surprises that a team dominating possession can't at least have more shots on goal. Brazil looked like their senior team vs Mexico earlier in the week.

On another note, good to see 55,000 attendance for football in Montreal

true, quite pointless possession by Brazil, both senior and junior team, as they seemed to lack clear ides up front how to cope with the organized Polish defense - it was basically left to hoping that individual brilliance might work at some point in the game.

Wonder if the synthetic field affected the performance of the Brazil NT as those are quite tricky to play on and more technical teams are more likely to be unsettled by that.

apart from that, Pato had an average game - some good moments but most of the time looked unconcentrated and had a heavy touch on the ball.

Lima showed some nice skills but I am on the opposite side to Vadims - too individualistic and too much of an egoist, I think, on the field, always trying to do it all by himself and tries too hard when a pass to the left or right would be a simpler solution.
Basically the type of player who is likely to wow the crowd but overall his efficiency on the field and contribution to the team is not as high as it could be expected to be from a player with good technique and speed.

The player I liked most was Renato Augusto (#10, I think).
liked everything about him really - technique, speed, vision and maturity in his approach. He reminded me of a hybrid between Kaka and Rivaldo and has actually been linked to Milan just recently as the latest "kaka heir" to come out of Brazil ... still relatively unknown in Europe so now could be the moment to act

He seems to be quite fast, great technique and ball distribution and was IMO the engine and the brain of Brazil's midfield. Later into the game, he was even put in a more defensive, center midfield role, when Carlos Eduardo and Luiz Adriano came on and Brazil was playing with 2 forwards and 2-3 attacking mids, and still did very well I think.

Is that Carizzo (sp?) playing in goal for Argentina?

Im so sad I missed this match, do you guys know when does Brazil play their next game?

Originally Posted by Jim_UK

Is that Carizzo (sp?) playing in goal for Argentina?

here are the teams:
http://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/matc...872/index.html

it's not Carrizo, who is 23 yo, but Romero (Racing, although it seems he has signed for AZ Alkmaar).
I didn't watch that game yesterday but a player to keep an eye on from the argentinians is Ever Banega who is Fernando Gago's heir in the Pirlo role at Boca and is doing really well despite being 18 yo or so.

Originally Posted by mrki

Im so sad I missed this match, do you guys know when does Brazil play their next game?

July 3rd vs South Korea and then July 6th vs USA.

Here is the full schedule for the entire group stage:
http://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/matches/index.html

Thank you!

A new Rivaldo, now that will be something to behold. I loved Rivaldo.

The Swangard stadium in Burnaby seems like a dump, which is kinda neat cuz when the Spanish team came off their bus to watch Jordan vs. Zambia, they were practically right beside me.

Spain vs. Uruguay was an amazing game. The atmosphere was alright for a stadium with 10000 capacity. I sat with a bunch of Spanish fans (who came all the way from Spain to watch their team play). They just went nuts when the goals went in, especially since our seats are SO close to the goal. At that moment, the emotions and passion are just amazing. Both teams were quite impressive, with some good attacking and individual pieces of skills. Uruguay wasted a few chances actually, but I thought Spain was robbed by the ref. There was a clear penalty not given. Instead, a FREEKICk was given even though the foul occured inside the box. The star of the game was definitely Capel from Spain. His moves were just dazzling to watch, and his goal just capped off a great game. He definitely has some attitude problems though. He didn't watch the previous match or go back to the tunnel after the game with his teammates. AND he walked right past a 5yr-old Spanish fan who was frantically crying and screaming for an autograph. Adrian Lopez (who scored the opener for Spain) was a LOVELY person though.....had a smile for everyone (even fans of Uruguay) and happily obliged to any demands for autographs. I was sooooooo happy for him when he scored that opener.

I thought the Zambia vs. Jordan game was sorta sad. Zambia's finishing was just shockingly bad, and mann....what a sucky goal to conceed. The worst thing is that nobody, not the fans or the players, seemed to care about the game. Most ppl were just there for Spain vs. Uruguay. The place was quiet except for an occasional "oohh....." when Zambia shoots wide or something.

Edit: Somebody I know said Capel was nice to her, so maybe he was just being emo or deaf when he ignored that little kid.

Spain-Uruguay was a nice match (especially for Live betting )
Lots of talent on both sides. Players i really liked were the Spaniard LW Capel (Sevilla) and the defender Pique (Man Utd- on loan to Zaragoza)
Uruguay also had good players though their attackers Cavani (Palermo) and Suarez (Gronningen) were the most dominant and the whole team relies too much on these two.

Capel is really fast and has an amazing technique and in run-dribbling. Unbelievably reminds of Nedved with his hair style and also with his way of play. The difference is Nedved has more powerful shot and is more versatile while Capel is faster and has better technique.
Pique is very dominant in defence but is also useful at set pieces and even with counters because he runs up and down all the time.

How could i forget Stephen Sunny , the Nigerian-Spanish DMC. He played less than 30 minutes but he had more intercepted passes then the entire Spanish team until 60th minute. The moment he came in Spain got a control of the midfield, Uruguay couldn't pass the center and Spain started dominating and scored 2 goals. The young version of Makelele, with amazing passing and creative abilities for a DMC.
Sunny is certanly a player to watch
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...ca/6470975.stm

Sorry for double post

Originally Posted by Tony29.

Sorry for double post

Sorry slighly off topic but are you from Croatia?

Originally Posted by MedellínBandit®

Sorry slighly off topic but are you from Croatia?

Yeah, why ?