2019 FIFA U20 World Cup: Non-U.S. team and tournament news

Too early to make any judgments but I am happy about the lack of draws. It does seem as if in the past plenty of 3 point teams made the knockout rounds (listed them in the Ukraine thread going back to the '07 Cup), but in recent cups (the past two) it's been 4 point squads that collected the knockout round tickets (7 of the past 8, after 3 point sides got more than half of the tickets between the '07 and the '13 tourneys). The lack of draws so far is at least a hopeful sign on that account, only 2 of them across match day 1. Then again that's what happened in '17 as well (2 draws on match day 1, 3 on matchday 2, and 4 on match day 3). I'm at a loss trying to figure out what's good for us in the midst of a potential match day 2 loss. The best I can think of is few and far between draws to avoid so many 4 point squads.

 

Mexico smoked twice.

 

Not just losing, but losing ugly. I know it’s a down cycle for them but they’re saying that about the u17s too. We need a strong Mexico since our games are the only CONCACAF ones that matter

 

They aren't that good anymore in these youth tournaments, and their player production is starting to decline.

I think its going to be a very one-sided rivalry within five years. We are producing a lot better players than they are. Its shown by the fact that they are using so many American born and developed players in their YNT's.

 

I was really impressed by how Ecuador took it to Italy today despite being down a man for most of the match. A likely knockout stage match with Argentina or Portugal awaits.

Embarrassing performance by Mexico. They'll be going home after the next game as 0 points and a -4 goal differential will be too much to overcome.

Senegal with an impressive victory over Colombia, although both goals were via PK's. Group A will be Senegal #1, Colombia #2 (unless they get shocked by Poland) and Poland #3. Poland will have a chance to go through as a 3rd place finisher due to their inflated goal differential from the Tahiti match.

I wish FIFA would put a cap on goal differential given that it's the first tie-breaker. What would be more equitable is a max +/- of 3 goals per game. Not everyone has a minnow like Tahiti.

 

I didn’t catch the Ecuador-Italy match, but I wasn’t especially impressed with Italy against Mexico. I guess that’s another knock against Mexico. Neither team was all that impressive to me.

 

Panama holds it down for CONCACAF with a huge result against the African champions, Mali. Big save from the GK with his face and a penalty gave them the 1-1 draw. Camara from Mali may be one of the best players at the tournament.



Senegal's defeat of Colombia did not surprise me in the slightest, as I always thought they would win the group. They earned the penalties and Colombia failed to threaten which has been Colombia's problem this cycle.

Ecuador is one of the stronger teams in the tournament but has one point from two games in which they dominated possession and chances. It's somewhere the USA could find themselves easily tomorrow I'm afraid. They will come after Mexico as it is a must win for them to make the next stage. If they take third, that is an unlucky draw for whatever group winner they face.

 

Macias does look like a future star and the numbers back it up but it's so hard for talented strikers on bad teams in this tournament; look at Haland for Norway who got eaten alive by Uruguay. Are you concerned about the way Lainez is playing? He gets the ball often but does not seem to be able to turn that into opportunities.

 

Whether Mexico does well or not in these youth tournaments, it doesn't really tell you much about talent development. We won one U17 world cup in 2011 and I don't think there's a single player that is getting playing time in Liga MX. We've also done well in the U20 with best result being 3rd place in 2011 and only like 4 players out of that team ended up playing in Liga MX.

Player selection is always questionable early on, but it is what it is. As long as players are proving to their clubs that they are good and getting playing time, that's really all that matters when it comes to getting called up to the senior NT.

 

It's not suprising, as Japan is very strong in youth development recently. And this Japanese U20 team is far from their best squad, as a few players are promoted to their senior team to play in Copa America, such as Kubo, known as Japanese Messi.

 

4 points will be enough, 3 require some help.
Good reasonable results for 3rd team from our group:
Senegal to win,
Mexico not to lose,
Panama not to win.
Probably one of those would be enough as another not qualifying 3rd seems to come from Group F.

 

Matchday 2 of group play concludes today, after which we should have a better sense of the possible KO matchups.

Group E

France v Panama
Mali v Saudi Arabia

Group F
Argentina v Portugal
South Korea v South Africa

 

Yup.

I would say that with regards to this group of players, we saw the writing on the wall in the CONCACAF tournament. In the first group stage they demolished minnows (Grenada, Nicaragua, Aruba, and Saint Martin), but only got a draw against Jamaica. In the qualification stage they drew with Panama, and eeked out a 1-0 victory over a weak El Salvador team. Then in the final they were beaten by the US 2-0. Two Mendez goals, and he's been the US' best player so far.

They really did manage to qualify for this U20 World Cup without beating any of the "bigger" CONCACAF teams. The US by comparison beat Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, and T&T to win that event.

I look at this Mexico team and it seems to be Lainez, Macias, and 9 others.

You are certainly correct that it really doesn't matter all that much. What matters is development with club teams and then elevation of the select few (like Lainez) to the senior team. Its a down cycle in terms of results, and every national team program has down cycles. Particularly in these age groups that are small slivers of the player pool (and one coach's selections from that pool).

 

I this were the mid90's and early 2000's, absolutely, but with our players developing overseas and getting real minutes, I don't know how much it will matter anymore. I think smashing Mexico and leaving no doubt that we've surpassed them will be better for us overall.

 

Remember these odds?

Odds to win the U-20 World Cup:

🇫🇷 France +400
🇦🇷 Argentina +800
🇵🇹 Portugal +800
🇮🇹 Italy +1200
🇳🇬 Nigeria +1400
🇺🇸 USA +1400
🇺🇾 Uruguay +1400 pic.twitter.com/6ocDv7Pj69

— Arthur Kogan (@artur_kogan) May 19, 2019

Norway was supposedly 10x more likely to win the whole thing than the New Zealand team that beat them 2-0. New Zealand is into the knockout rounds comfortably, along with Uruguay from their group.

 

Uruguay looks pretty damn good. Threatening on the wings especially, with center mids who are really comfortable on the ball. They are one of my favourites for sure.

 

Group E

France 2-0 Panama
Mali v Saudi Arabia

Victorious France with a huge statistical edge, as expected.

Group F
Argentina 2-0 Portugal
South Korea v South Africa

Portugal lost despite a big edge in all the statistics measured (except the most important one).

 

Argentina scored both goals somewhat against the run of play. Very high quality game all around, though; they could match up again in the final and I would not be surprised.

 

New Zealand's second against Norway:



Or Barco vs. South Africa:



EDIT: Videos won't embed, go to 1:08 for both videos.

 

NZ Goal: https://streamable.com/1tyul

Barco goal: https://streamable.com/a9yy2

 

Not sure what to think of France at this point. They got the results they needed, but how good did they play? Really worried we'll have to play them, bug glad they haven't looked like world beaters so far. Just frustrating to think that we could likely end up with France in the knockouts because of some flukey mental breakdowns against Ukraine. Hopefully Nigeria beats them and we crush Qatar.

 

going to have to play them at some point anyway, and i think we match up fine with them. Bring it France