2017 FIFA U20 World Cup: Non-U.S. team and tournament news

Honduras announced their roster a few days ago, which included Weston FC keeper Henry Mashburn. None of the other names jump out at me.

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Japan's team based off Wikipedia, based in turn on a translated article from the Japan FA

Of note is the Japanese Josh Sargent Messi, Takefusa Kubo. Will Parchman did a profile of him here: http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/the9...-year-old-takefusa-kubo-to-the-u20-world-cup/

 

Why do we not know who will host the 2019 U20 World Cup yet? I feel like whatever country hosts it needs at least two year in advance to know.

 

Does the U20 draw a lot of people? Doesn't seem like it would take too long to just line up some stadiums. The Gold Cup does it on far shorter notice

 

Some interesting early results:
Venezuela beat Germany 2-0 (Highlights)
England beat Argentina 3-0 (Highlights)
Mexico needed a goal in second half stoppage time to beat Vanuatu 3-2 (Highlights)

That last one is especially shocking when you see the Vanuatu goalkeeper on the first two goals.

 

Biggest shocker is Germany losing to Venezuela. Youth level can be unpredictable, but no way the Germans sent their best squad.

 

I'm not surprised. I think this Venezuela team is being slept on. Herrera, Soteldo, and Penaranda and yeah that's not Germany's best squad.

 

I was watching some of these games, and I'm optimistic about our roster now.

Germany was outplayed by Venezuela, both teams were not good. Mexico was outplayed by Vanuatu, and should've lost if it was not for their goalie putting two into his own net and a stoppage time winner. There are very few good teams at this tournament. Its a battle of bad teams to win. We aren't going to need to defend Dembele, Mbappe, Havertz, face Donnarumma.

 

These tournaments are always weird, I wouldn't rule out anything. 2 years ago we needed to win a playoff to qualify, struggled to put away Myanmar late, and then got blown out by Ukraine to close out the Group Stage. We were then a penalty shootout away from facing world football power Mali in the semi finals.

 

Something mildly noteworthy, is that if both us and Mexico finish as runner ups in our groups we will play in the Round of 16

 

Digicel Premier League goalkeeping.

Guinea had 19 shots compated to S Korea's 7.

 

Bunker and counter paid off for some teams yesterday. Argentina looked well in control but let in one goal and then another before their player got sent off, deflating them completely. South Korea looked tentative the entire match and really relied on their one player, Lee Seung Woo, to make things happen for them. Guinea was wasteful in the final third and couldn't break the Koreans down at all.

Venezuela looked head and shoulders above the Germans, but they really sent their best to Korea. 4 of their players have already made appearances for the senior national team in World Cup Qualifying.

 

Guinea lacked the discipline not to shoot every time you're in sight of the goal. Out of the 19 shots, none was remotely close to beating the keeper.

 

Zambia beat Portugal 2-1 (Highlights)
Iran beat Costa Rica 1-0 (Highlights)
Japan beat South Africa 2-1 (Highlights)
Uruguay beat Italy 1-0

 

Oh Europe! Portugal, Italy, and Germany all lose their opening games.
England won, which was their first win at the U20 World Cup in 20 years.

The problem, of course, is that this is nowhere near their best squads. I have no clue why they can't wait until the European season ends to hold this tournament.

Also, of course, the European U21 Championships are this summer. When I lived in Germany, that was considered the more prestigious event. That tournament starts the second that the U20 World Cup ends.........................

 

I think someone posted in another thread that South Korea asked for it to be held now, to avoid the monsoon season.

 

I had an entirely different reaction from the bits I saw.

 

You want to elaborate? I really have not been impressed with the quality of a lot of the traditional powers at this tournament.

 

I'll defer to others for their insight because I haven't had much time to watch these games, but I watched the full Uruguay/Italy match this morning.

I'm fairly confident that both of those teams would dominate us rather easily. It wasn't just their technical ability (which was apparent), but the majority of those players played like professionals in the sense of their speed of thought, tactical awareness, etc.

I also assume they have better coaches than us (at least a better head coach).