FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007

Pato seems very unimpressive from what I've seen. Can't see where the hype comes from at all. A few good moves here and there but no where near as good as ppl make him out to be. The entire Brazil team is disappointing actually.

The crowd's response to Capel is especially astonishing given the sort of treatment his teammates are getting. Against Zambia, everytime a Spanish player starts attacking or goes down, the crowd begins to boo and swear, but not with Capel. He's the only one from Spain who's loved by the audience for some weird reason, and after he got subbed off (with wild applause of course), the boos for his teammates got a lot worse. He hasn't played well in the latest 2 games though...still fairly good, but not as brilliant and dominant as against Uruguay. Local newspaper reported that he picked up a knock against Zambia and another one against Jordan. I hope he's alright.

I never realized the U20 World Cup can be so interesting. I'm actually starting to be more enthusiastic about this tournament than I am about Copa America. It's exciting to be given a peek at the future I guess, and for the first time ever, people around me here in Canada are enthusiastic about football....gives me hope that the enthusiasm will continue. Now...if only the Canadian team isn't such an embarrassment

Originally Posted by zlatanov

I think that the first 2 teams of every group go thru and the best 4 teams of those who finished 3rd in any group will join them to make up for 16 teams necessary for the 1/8-finals.
So Brazil is hanging on a thread right now but they are not out yet

Brasil made it to the round of 16 and they were lucky i must say. At the end it was between them and Costarica for the last place in the 1/8 finals and Brasil went through because they had a GD of 4:5 while Costa Rica had 3:4.

Round of 16 :
Mexico-Congo
Argentina-Poland
Japan-Czech Republic
Spain-Brasil
Zambia-Nigeria
Usa-Uruguay
Chile-Portugal
Austria-Gambia

European u-19 champions Spain will face Brasil which is The match of the round.
Usa-Uruguay, Chile-Portugal ( the Portuguese will be without their star player Gama) and Zambia-Nigeria should be interesting to watch.

Originally Posted by Lilly

Now...if only the Canadian team isn't such an embarrassment

I agree, a host that didn't even score a goal and this in a year when the senior team showed some signs of life in the Gold Cup. Not sure what to make of the CSA and their handling of the game here.

France' 2002 was even worse, scored no goal with 3 league top scorers in their team

This was a Brazilian team that will not be remembered.
Lost 3 of their 4 matches and went out in the 2nd round.
Pato has the class to become a great striker but he's not gonna be the greatest player of his time.
Compare him to Messi from u-20 in 2005 and Pato looks funny.
He has the dribbling, headers, positioning but he still lacks that..err, i don't know how to describe it...the special thing that seperates the great ones from the very good ones.
Paying 20m-25m for this kid will be a mistake ! There are at least 5 players on this u-20 who were much better than Pato and who won't cost more than 5-10m.

Lima, for one, seems like a much more versatile, clever player that will be a problem for many defences

Sergio Aguero

Originally Posted by Tony29.

This was a Brazilian team that will not be remembered.
Lost 3 of their 4 matches and went out in the 2nd round.
Pato has the class to become a great striker but he's not gonna be the greatest player of his time.
Compare him to Messi from u-20 in 2005 and Pato looks funny.
He has the dribbling, headers, positioning but he still lacks that..err, i don't know how to describe it...the special thing that seperates the great ones from the very good ones.
Paying 20m-25m for this kid will be a mistake ! There are at least 5 players on this u-20 who were much better than Pato and who won't cost more than 5-10m.

I saw nothing spectacular from Pato either. In fact, he was farrrr from being the most stand-out player on the pitch last night. I completely agree that he lacks the special thing. I call it the "it factor".

The entire Brazillian team was rather disappointing actually. In the end, they almost got trashed by Spain. There were at least 4 chances that Spain really should have buried, including one that hit the crossbar, one that went SLIGHTLY wide and a missed point blank shot with no gk to beat. Not the best game from the highly rated Adrian Lopez (who scored the killer) and Mata, I'm afraid. I'm happy Bueno scored though. That was a brilliant decision from Melendez sub him on.

I also have to say I'm very impressed with the Spanish coach. So far, all his decisions have been spot-on. It's quite amazing how he can always change the game in his favor with his subs. He's not afraid to sub off "stars" who underperform either. I was also amazed by how Spain more or less remained composed and tried to find their rythm, keep possession and look for an opening instead of desperately pouring forward a la Roma vs. ManU. They really showed great character. I absolutely ADORE this team, a lot more than the senior Spanish team, who tend to act like a bunch of spoiled crybabies at times.

Also, I simply have to rant some more about Diego Capel. WHAT A PLAYER! Now he definitely has that star quality. It sounds absolutely ridiculous, but when he's on the ball, it seems like there's a spotlight following him around. Everyone in the stadium is holding their breath. I'm not exaggarating at all. The crowd "oohh"s and "ahhh"s at even the simplest of passes from Capel. Compared to the overhyped Pato, Capel is just CLASS.

I'm sooooooooooooooo glad we can get a game like Spain vs. Brazil here in Vancouver. It's done wonders to promote football. It really showed the hockey fans how entertaining and beautiful football can be, and this is just the U20 games! One of my friends who's a HUGE hockey fan just told me that he thinks football is just as good as hockey. That's a GINORMOUS admission. The guy who sat beside me also said Vancouverites are starting to feel that Spain is the "local" team cuz they've played all their matches @ the Swangard.

Pato hasn't been glowing like you guys said, however he has the ability, the technique, the skill to be great. He is very very good with his feet, he has a great eye for goal and he can hit some good headers. The problem is that he isn't mobile enough. What I mean is that he doesn't move enough up front.........but then again Brazil's game doesn't help him either. They never seem to settle on the ball and that doesn't allow Pato to get touches on the ball. Brazil always seemed to be rushing their opportunities, they always seemed to be rushing the ball forward. It looked like they just get the ball and try to get it up front as fast as possible. Not good showing for them at all. Also, the two forwards always pulled out wide on the flanks, thus leaving a huge hole in the middle. If one of them goes wide, one should stay in the middle, but both of them go on the opposite side and they never play off each other. I guess the idea was to give space to the mids to run through but it obviously didn't work.

Back on some of the bright stars.........I have to point out Capel also. He is a classic winger. Great speed and controll. He reminds me of Robben a lot, and I am sure he has a big future and a star-space waiting for him in a few years.

One of the best players on this WC, Poland's striker Dawid Janczyk, has signed for CSKA Moscow for 4m euro..... the shopping in u-20 WC has begun
Poland didn't give a star since Boniek....this Janczyk kid has the quality to be one of the best attackers in the world and i hope CSKA is just another stair on his way to the top.

Sergio Aguero.... he scored 5 goals and made 3 assists so far (in 4 matches). The best about him is that he can score from every position.
Just look at his goals against Poland yesterday ( 2nd and 3rd goal for Argentina)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se6m0gchD6w
And look at his goal against North Korea :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fowGB9SUnZE
Against Panama he made 3 assists and scored 2 goals.

I like Capel and Moralez more and these 2 are certanly among the favs to be the MVP of the tournament, but Sergio Aguero is in the lead for now to win the prize !

I watched Austria-USA yesterday, and I have to say that I was impressed with Austria's center-back Sebastian Proedl. I only saw that one game from Austria, and I know you don't judge a player by one game, but he was a rock in the back for the Austrians. Maybe someone has seen more games from Austria and can give a better oppinion on him.

You forgot this thread, he ?

Argentina-Czech Republic in the final.
It should have been Argentina-Chile but the draw wanted them to meet in the semis. These two teams were the best on the WC.

Czechs are without stars but they plays as a team. Compact defence, hard working midfield, solid attack. Atm it doesn't look like this team will give another Nedved, or even another Poborsky or Rosicky, but you could never tell with the Czechs because they are usually late developers. I've no doubt 2-3 of these Czech players will become big one day. They are in WC final so there must be top quality in the team after all.

Austrians, who lost the semi to Czech Rep. didn't impress me whenever i watched them. Some say their striker is good but he also didn't impress me.

Chile on the other hand were brilliant. They didn't concide a goal until the semis and outplayed their opponents in every match. Even in the semi, even though a man down since 17th minute, they were better than the Argies in the first 50-55 minutes.
Lots of talent in this Chilean team : Arturo Vidal ( Leverkusen already signed him for 6m euro) , Alexis Sanchez (he was amazing until the quarters and wasn't good in the quarters but i'm convinced he'll be a success. He's an Udinese player now), Nicolas Medina ( i still can't believe how much he reminds me of Inzaghi brothers, physically mostly, but even his way of play is similar to Pippo ..... he'll almost certanly end in Osasuna). Few others impressed in this WC : Winger Currimilla ( still plays in Chile but not for long, i'm sure), Vidangossy from Villareal and especially the defenders and the goalkeeper who kept clean sheet on 5 matches in a row.
I expect a lot from this Chilean team in the future at senior stage.

Argentina....we said a lot about them already. The most talented nation in the world (regarding young players). They won the u-20 wc record 5 times and they are close to the 6th trophy. I'm absolutely sure that all these Argentinian players will play in the best European leagues one day.
Maxi Moralez is my favorite from this team and i believe he'll be the Golden Ball winner (unless FIFA decide to give the award to a star - Aguero) because he's the most complete player in the tournament. Not only he assists like crazy but he scores also.
I'll make a review about the Argentinian team when they'll become champions ( yeah, they "only" need to win the final)

There are a few players that have really impressed me in this competition, we should be tracking down these players.

Galliani talked about the new ways Milan will work now and purchase players before they become a hit in another club where the price will go much higher - well why dont we put this into practice and buy a few players before they end up at the clubs. You see so many clubs linked with these youngsters but one team you dont see linked with them is Milan.

Originally Posted by MedellínBandit®

There are a few players that have really impressed me in this competition, we should be tracking down these players.

Galliani talked about the new ways Milan will work now and purchase players before they become a hit in another club where the price will go much higher - well why dont we put this into practice and buy a few players before they end up at the clubs. You see so many clubs linked with these youngsters but one team you dont see linked with them is Milan.

Too bad most of them are argentinian players... We don't buy players from Argentina.