Senegal and Zambia get good draws from CAF... France get a superb group, while the hosts got the worst one possible (albeit Argentina was terrible in qualifying).
My teams Zambia and Portugal finally meet! It will be interesting to see whether Portugal call up their best players as the U19 team which qualified lacked some of the bigger names. The young chipolopolo have a great team spirit and clinical forwards so should put up a good showing in this group.
It remains to be seen how Zambia perform, but wow... they played some entertaining and dominant football in qualifying. Very Zambian-like team - a lot of creativity, flick-ons, tricks, but what makes them better than the typical Zambian team is a well organised backline and at least three clinical forwards in Patson Daka (MVP of qualifying), Edward Chilufya and Fashion Sakala. Patson Daka looks like material for a class striker, but Chilufya was a real revelation. Very Lampard like AM. That said continental qualifying may be misleading. Senegal is once again big and physical - they will outmuscle anyone. But they seem to lack good attackers.
watched the draw as i was curious on how they apply the rule with one one team of a confed in a group. the pits were extremely mixed before the draw. the funny thing is they really got through with it. for example, usa was the last team drawn from pot 1 going to group F. in pot two was mexico and costa rica. mexico was drawn as the second team going to group b and crc the fourth groing to c after italy moved to d to avoid portugal. however, if the crc ball would have come out as the last ball from the second pot, the would have gone to F but there was already USA... strange stuff.
Geez, didn't realize how weak the field was until I saw the draw. Venezuela and Vanuatu in the same group! Viet Nam, NZ and Honduras all in the same group. ...And then factor-in that 3 teams will advance from most groups.
This is probably the first time I fully expect all European teams to progress through. There will be some very poor 1/8 final matchups and some very lopsided ones. My prognosis (a lot of this is pure conjecture) Group A: 1. England 2. Korea Republic 3. Argentina I think Korea may actually win this. Argentina should be strong, but they have seemingly a poor year. England is England. They could have a strong team though. Group B: 1. Germany 2. Mexico 3. Venezuela Vanuatu is free points so I think it's almost a given one third best loser will come from this group. Like group A a tough group. Group C: 1. Portugal 2. Zambia 3. Iran Pretty even group with Portugal favorites. I really like the look of this Zambian side and they could be a surprise package and may even steal the group from Portugal. Costa Rica barely qualified despite being hosts (by virtue of losing to Honduras less than Panama did), so I think Iran have the upper hand. Group D: 1. Uruguay 2. Italy 3. South Africa Probably the toughest group to call. South Africa looked very good in qualifying, Italy are UEFA runners up and have a really strong set of talents, Japan dominated AFC qualifying, Uruguay were better than all other CONMEBOL teams. Any two-three teams can make it out. Group E: 1. France, 2. Honduras Damn, what a poor group. France should fly through this group, Honduras should be comfortably second, New Zealand could qualify by virtue of beating Vietnam, the worst Asian team and beneficiary of some lucky draws (they beat North Korea and Bahrain to qualify). I don't think New Zealand will qualify - they will likely have 3pts and a poor GD. Group F: 1. Senegal 2. USA USA are champs, but I don't think they will have an answer to the collossal Senegalese team. At this age group its much easier to bully opponents into submission as counteracting such physicality comes with age / experience (vide Olympics 2012). I still think USA has some real special talent and should be in the top two. I'm not convinced by Ecuador... They weren't really good and they were the hosts. I think they will struggle and won't qualify. Saudi Arabia - could surprise, don't know much about them.
Venezuela is better than you think. What I want to know is how did New Zealand end up in the same draw pot as Argentina and México? Talk about the kiss of death... We all know zahzah's predicting record... on par only with Pele's. Remember that "amazing" Serbian team of yore?
I actually predict most stuff very well. Especially with youth competitions. Check out the last U20 World Cup - was pretty much right on everything, only thing I didn't predict is Nigeria mismanagement. Check out last U17 World Cup - predicted a Nigerian blowout. Guess what? Also - at this level you can only really tell after the first games - you never know which team will surprise. That's why I say it's pure conjecture. Not to mention that the form of the team in qualifying may not carry to the tournament itself (Zambia, Argentina, etc.). Senegal seem to have a very poor GK, but honestly. Just look back to the U20 World Cup and see how Mali and Senegal manhandled most opponents (or how Senegal manhandled Uruguay at the 2012 Olympics - which BTW I also predicted). Brasil was a much more mature team at the last U20WC, so they took out Senegal with ease, much like Zambia did last week with their joga bonito interplay. Also this Senegalese side seems technically better than the 2015 Senegal U20 team. At U20 traditionally South America is the strongest with Mexico another stable performer, Europe is rather poor with half of the teams not up to par, Africa is better than Europe, but you can never count out Asia or North America either. But with this years set up I expect Europe to do much better than South America and Africa (not saying they will win it, but I don't see weak European sides this time around). Kiss of death for Europe!
As for Senegal - players to look out for: Ibrahima Niane - a 195 cm AM/FW tank, colossal guy, but with a surprisingly silky touch (dare I say Zlatanesque?). Krepin Diatta - think Sadio Mane, but with better deadball skills. And naturally some real giants in defence.
Uruguay got Italy, Japan and South Africa, which I rate in that order. I fear Japan the most, because South Americans underrate Asian teams. We perform the best versus teams we overrate.
If by some miracle Christian Pulisic is allowed to play in this world cup then the US has a chance to win it. That kid is unreal.
The Bundesliga title challenge is done and dusted, once they secure a CL slot Pulisic isn't needed. So it boils down to how deep Borussia go in the Champions League. If they fail at the 1/4 finals then Pulisic should be free to go. Its tougher with the semis, as the second leg is 9/10th May, while USA's first game is on 22nd May. I don't think a miracle is needed. Just good will on behalf of Borussia. And I have the feeling Borussia may just agree... --- It'll be more interesting to see who France (Mbappe?), Germany (where to start?), England (Abraham), Italy (Donnarumma), Portugal will be able to send. There are also players like Amadou Diawara (Guinea) in some smaller teams.
Some recent friendlies from U20 preparations: Zambia - Ecuador 2:0 (goals by Edward Chifulya, Enock Mwepu) England - Portugal 2:2 (goals: 22' Solanke, 38' Roberts - 65' Francisco Ferreira, 90' Helder Ferreira) France - Senegal 3:0 (goals: 2' Thuram, 4' Severin, 18' Augustus) Poland - Italy 3:1 (goals: 70' Michalak, 74' Angielski, 76' Tomasiewicz - 52' Orsolini) Germany - Switzerland 1:0
South Korea - Honduras 3:2 (15' Jeong Tae-wook, 43' Kim Seung-woo, 49' Paik Seung-ho, - 25' Vuelto, 60' Alvarez) Portugal - Senegal 0:3 (42', 88' Krepin Diatta, 57' Waly Diouf)
France - England 0:1 (73' Armstrong) Standings: England 4 pts 3:2 France 3 pts 3:1 Senegal 3 pts 3:3 Portugal 1 pt 2:5 Final games: England vs Senegal France vs Portugal
It would have been cool to see him dominate the competition at this level but he is a sure starter for the US Senior Team and they have two important qualifiers coming up in June. (So it ain't going to happen.)
This is the England Squad for anyone interested: The squad Goalkeepers 1. Freddie Woodman (Newcastle United) 13. Dean Henderson (Manchester United) 21. Luke Southwood (Reading) Defenders 2. Jonjoe Kenny (Everton) 3. Callum Connolly (Everton) 5. Fikayo Tomori (Chelsea) 6. Jake Clarke-Salter (Chelsea) 12. Rico Henry (Brentford) 14. Kyle Walker-Peters (Tottenham Hotspur) 15. Dael Fry (Middlesbrough) Midfielders 4. Lewis Cook (AFC Bournemouth) 7. Josh Onomah (Tottenham Hotspur) 8. Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Arsenal) 18. Kieran Dowell (Everton) 19. Sheyi Ojo (Liverpool) 20. Ovie Ejaria (Liverpool) Forwards 9. Adam Armstrong (Newcastle United) 10. Dominic Solanke (Chelsea) 11. Ademola Lookman (Everton) 16. Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton) 17. Harrison Chapman (Middlesbrough)
For the US DEFENDERS (7): Danny Acosta (Real Salt Lake; Salt Lake City, Utah), Cameron Carter-Vickers (Tottenham Hotspur FC; Westcliff-on-Sea, England), Marlon Fossey (Fulham FC; Surbiton, England), Justen Glad (Real Salt Lake; Tucson, Ariz.), Aaron Herrera (University of New Mexico; Las Cruces, N.M.), Erik Palmer-Brown (Sporting Kansas City; Lee's Summit, Mo.), Tommy Redding (Orlando City SC; Oviedo, Fla.) MIDFIELDERS (5): Tyler Adams (New York Red Bulls; Wappingers Falls, N.Y.), Luca De La Torre (Fulham FC; San Diego, Calif.), Derrick Jones (Philadelphia Union; Philadelphia, Pa.), Eryk Williamson (University of Maryland; Alexandria, Va.), Gedion Zelalem (Arsenal FC; Bethesda, Md.) FORWARDS (6): Jeremy Ebobisse (Portland Timbers; Bethesda, Md.), Lagos Kunga (Atlanta United FC Academy; Tucker, Ga.) Brooks Lennon (Real Salt Lake; Paradise Valley, Ariz.), Emmanuel Sabbi (Unattached; Columbus, Ohio), Josh Sargent (St. Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri; O'Fallen, Mo.), Sebastian Saucedo (Real Salt Lake; Park City, Utah)
A bit of drama in the US. Schalke refused to release all three US players in their team. Coach Tab Ramos was not pleased.
Do you know why that is? Seems a bit odd to me as there not playing first team football yet right? The only one I could see in the first team squad is Haji Wright but he's yet to make a first team appearance so I'm a bit puzzled why they would object since it's likely to benefit the players.