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

To be honest, I wouldn't be too worried about meeting France in the knockout round if i'm the US. They played close to this same French team in March and looked very capable against them. I think that would be a pretty even matchup.

 

The Mali - Saudi Arabia game is absolutely bananas. 3-3 but it still feels like there's more scoring to come with 20 minutes remaining. It's on Telemundo Deportes.

 

Mali prevailed 4-3 with the winning goal at 90', an important result for us, potentially. Had the game finished as a draw, France would have won the group today. With Mali's victory, France will need a draw v Mali to remain in first place, so (presumably) France will not field a completely reserve team.

South Korea 1-0 South Africa.

 

Won't be surprised if Mali wins the group. Just visually they look better than France.

 

Whaaaaaattt? After all the trouble we've taken to talk about avoiding France, now you're saying we should be talking about avoiding Mali?

 

Life is tough.

 

Giving up 3 goals to Saudi Arabia is not good. They have the talent to beat France, sure, but do they have the discipline to keep it tight at the back?

 

Not telling they will beat France, but they can.

 

Atlanta United's Barco played very well for Argentina. I remember a few time ago, some guys in our forum thought he is not talented, and Carleton should replace him in starting lineup.

 

I think a more accurate account would be that folks didn't understand why 18 year old Barco was provided with opportunities while 18 year old Andrew Carleton wasn't.

But the overall point is that Barco is clearly a talented youngster. Exactly the kind of young player from the Western Hemisphere that MLS clubs should be going after. Maybe after this performance at the U20WC, ATL is going to have a hard time fending off Euro offers...………………...

 

You are either purposely misrepresenting or just misunderstanding what "some" on the Carleton thread have been saying re: Barco and Carleton.

 

I wish I could believe that, but I know that a lot of things change for players once they get past their teenage years. Mexico, with the strength of their club system, will still be producing technically gifted professionals who present a big challenge to any USMNT in the foreseeable future.

 

Matchday 3 kicks off with Group B at 12:00 PM [Group A @ 2:30 PM]

Italy v Japan for first place, with a draw keeping Italy in first.

Ecuador v Mexico for third place, with a draw likely killing both teams' chances.

6 Italy (+2) - comfortably qualified, might slip to 2nd
4 Japan (+3) - likely qualified, could finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd
1 Ecuador (-1) - should qualify with a win; might 'steal' 2nd
0 Mexico (-4) - must win, ideally by multiple goals, and hope for help

 

I realized this Mexico team wasn't the best U20 group I'd seen from them, but this is totally surprising. Lainez, Macias, and 9 others. Like the US in the CONCACAF tournament, all teams need to do is shut down Lainez. No service to Macias. Job down.

A draw does Mexico little good, and they're already losing to Ecuador.

 

At halftime we have ...

Italy 0-0 Japan
Japan leads statistically but missed an early PK.

Ecuador 1-0 Mexico
Mexico had a goal called back, apparently.

At the moment

7 Italy
5 Japan
4 Ecuador
0 Mexico

 

While it looks bad that Mexico dropped all three games, those were three quality opponents. Japan was very well organized. Italy looked to have some real quality in the attack and Ecuador looked solid. That was a real group of Death for Mexico. I don't know that the US emerges from that group either.

 

And both games finished just that way, Italy 0-0 Japan, and Ecuador 1-0 Mexico.

Group B

7 Italy
5 Japan
4 Ecuador - 0 goal difference, very likely to advance
0 Mexico

 

Sure, at this level, most teams can compete against each other. If Mexico had shown better, that'd be one thing, but they never looked confident to me and I bet they took Japan lightly. No way were they going to win today after getting shellshocked that 2nd game.

 

Still wondering what happened to the Ecuador team that won the CONMEBOL qualifiers so convincingly. It's not that they've been horrible but they topped Argentina and Uruguay both in the first round and the final round four months ago and now they look like an average team.

 

Let's be clear about this Mexico team.

They qualified for this World Cup in the first place without really beating anybody in the CONCACAF tournament...............

Mexico 7 Nicaragua 0
Mexico 4 Saint Martin 0
Mexico 2 Jamaica 2
Mexico 8 Grenada 0
Mexico 10 Aruba 0
Mexico 1 El Salvador 0
Mexico 2 Panama 2
USA 2 Mexico 0

So their best win thru all of qualifying was a 1-0 victory over El Salvador.

At that tournament, the US U20s beat Costa Rica, Honduras, T&T, and Mexico.
Didn't draw them. Beat them. Beat Costa Rica 4-0.

I will agree that Mexico had a hard group here. That's for sure. But the writing was on the wall for this particular Mexico group before this. They really weren't good at the CONCACAF tournament against other good teams. Didn't beat Jamaica, Panama, or the US.

 

That's pretty eye opening.

 

So the 12:00 PM Group C games have kicked off ...

Uruguay v New Zealand for first place - draw favors New Zealand (on GD).

Norway v Honduras for third place - both teams likely to be eliminated.

 

Trevor Zwetsloot, the dual national, got hurt in the first couple minutes. A Uruguayan rolled into his knee, and it looks bad.

 

Uruguay and NZ both put out reserves for this game. The winner of the group is likely to draw Ecuador in the knockout rounds while the runner up gets Poland.

Norway's path to the knockout round is unlikely although Haland has put up 2 goals against an overmatched Honduras already. They need SK or Portugal to lose, a loss from the USA or a loss/draw from Panama. If two of those happen, and they smash Honduras by 4+ goals, they have a chance.