Canada huffed and puffed but they could make no impression on a vastly superior Chile side. Chile was fleeter-of-foot, quicker-of-mind and dominated Canada in every area of the field.
With flicks, one-two’s, nutmegs, faints and dribbles Chile put on an exhibition for a full house at BMO Field (or the National Soccer Stadium as it is referred to during this tournament).
There was never a point in the game when Canada was able to hold the ball for any extended period of time – as Chile showed poise and patience on the ball, Canada treated it as if it was part of a pass-the-parcel game with punishment forthcoming if they held on to it for more than a second.
It took 66 minutes for Canada to get their first attempt on goal and as the game progressed the Canadian got more frustrated with their inability to mount attacks of any consequence. If there were any positives to take out of this game for Canada it would be Begovic in the goal who could not faulted with any of the three Chile goals and at least the Canadians kept working throughout the ninety minutes.
Numerous Chilean players impressed with Arturo Vidal (Bayer Leverkusen) and Mathias Vidangossy (Villarreal) the best of the bunch.
Day 2 Wrap Five games and fourteen goals today made for a better day’s football. Although I only caught thirty minutes of the Spain – Uruguay game it looked to be an outstanding match with Diego Capel (Sevilla) scoring a great injury time equalizer that capped a two goal comeback for Spain.
Player of the day was a tougher pick to make than on day 1. Yosuke Kashiwagi was outstanding against Scotland but my player of the day is Mathias Vidangossy of Chile.
Day 3 Three games tomorrow, Austria vs. Congo, Portugal vs. New Zealand and Gambia vs. Mexico.
Update from the Canadian West Coast
Kevin called me from the two games held in Burnaby today – say it quick and it sounds a bit like the home of Real Madrid. The stadium which looked good on TV looked just as good in real-life. The overall organization in and around the stadium was also very good and the spectators were having a good time. The Spain - Uruguay game was particularly well received by the crowd.
You can send any information (fsr@mts.net) that you think might be of interest about the twenty-four countries and I will post a regular selection. If you have a FIFA Under-20 blog go ahead and post your link under comments.
Whoa that performance by Canada; that was pathetic, did they know they had to actually play or did they think that showing up would be good enough. Chile did not even have there best player. All of a sudden the US doesn't look so bad.
yeah, i'm with #2#, that was dreadful by canada, very solid by chile, but it does beg the question, when the home team doesn't have a goal attempt until the 66TH MINUTE why there is not a single comment from the tv announcers on the hosts poor play...too afraid to criticize, admit they were being blown right off the pitch?
in the uk they would have lambasted their teams for anything close to that!
I'm not a soccer expert, but the Spain-Uruguay game was pretty good I thought. I haven't seen any replays, but all of the goals were quite good. The 2nd Uruguay goal was a real cracker, buddy got some jazz behind the ball. Spain's tie goal was a beauty touch by Capel, and he probably deserved it since he was a constant danger and spark of energy on the wing. Uruguay's first goal was another good one, where one forward dribbled the ball around a few players before back-heeling the ball in front of the net where Cavani put it in.
As is typical, Uruguay sat back in defensive mode once they had the 2 goal lead, which of course caused the predictable ball possession of Spain. It looked like at least 3 players from Uruguay were getting leg cramps, at least one was taken off the field and substituted. The crowd seemed to think he was faking an injury but you could clearly see the Uruguayans constantly stretching out their hamstrings after 70min.
Both teams had some nice saves by their goalies, and they both played with good control and ball skills. Capel and Piqué were the standouts for Spain I thought, and I just now see that Capel plays for Seville B and Piqué for ManU. Uruguay's top player was harder to pick, but maybe it was their captain (Cavani?).
Okay, totally off topic but very important!!! Can somebody tell me where I can find the schedule of appearances for the UEFA Champions League trophy tour in the US. I know it was in Miami on Sunday, and I want to know when it will com out west??? Please, somebody has to know!!
To add to what Shmish said. I just watched Spain - Uruguay and that was not "pretty good", that was an instant classic! What a blinder of a match! Both teams played with tremendous pace and skill. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and kept saying "great ball, oh yes, wow" every 5 seconds! The final 2-2 score was no more then both teams deserved. Spain played very well, yet still ended up with 0-2 deficit after two of the sweetest goals you'll ever see (Shmish described the first one well). The second was an absolute cracker of a shot by Suarez after 5 or 6 one touch passes in a row! Marvelous!
Aside from Capel who was incredible to watch the whole match and came up with an amazing tying goal in the dying moments (what a perfect touch to lob the ball over the keeper who came out to punch a cross sent in by Sunny!). I thought Sunny Stephen completely changed the game for Spain after coming on as a sub. He was just unbelievable at central midfield. Silky smooth player who has it all... Speed, touch, dribbling, passing and vision. The commentators on FSE never heard of him before, but like me were raving about his play (from what Spanish I'm able to understand... it's quickly getting better as I'm watching so many games in Spanish). Sunny is an African player, but a naturalized Spaniard. I have to look up where he plays. If he's not with a top club yet he will be after this display.
Like the previous poster said it's harder to find standouts for Uruguay. The whole team played beautiful football. Oh yeah, Adan, the Spanish keeper also impressed.
The spanish keeper made some really key saves in the first half, and the Uruguay keeper sure had some bad luck on the tying goal. He punched it clear, but it went out wide of the box where Capel creamed it back in, what a wicked shot. I hope I'll get to see a replay on this and the 2nd Uruguayan goal.
The last 5 minutes had Pique playing up front as a striker instead of center back, and he almost had the tying goal but the play was correctly whistled down on a hand ball! Although I couldn't see much of Pique in the first half because of where I was sitting, he was definitely the key defensive player for Spain.
Most people around were impressed with Sunny, he definitely changed the complexion of the Spanish side.
I was kind of reserved in my assessment above because this is only the second soccer game I've seen live, so it looks a lot different to me.
AS A BURNABY RESIDENT (I don't really live in Barcelona as my name suggests), I was affraid the world will laugh at us because of the poor Swangard Stadium.
But when I got there, It looked pictureque. I don't know what they did to it, but this is not the same stadium i go to watch the Vancouver Whitecaps every week.
The match matched the stadium beauty. I was scared about the 2 results from Ottawa yesterday, and I was praying either URUGUAY or SPAIN scores. At half, it was 0-0.
But I have to admit, I was keeping one eye on the Canadian game, but I quickly focused all my eyes to the match in hand. especially when Canada went 1-0 down, I knew they won't come back...
And the match really swung into action. beautiful plays from PIQUE, the Man. Utd, teenager, and great tech skills from URUGUAYANS. it was a real treat. If you missed this match watching the Canadian Horror show in toronto, you really missed big.
Notes:
1. Zambia v. SPAIN, Not a big fixture on paper, but If you really want to see some football, don't miss it.
2. Japan looked like they were enjoying themselves in Victoria. It would be interesting to see how they fair against Nigeria.
3. Just wondering why Vancouver & Victoria will not have any QF or SEMI FINAL? Vancouver has may be the only natural pitch in this tournament. Vancouver is a big soccer hub, so, why not us?
Last edited by Thierry_Henry on July 2nd at 2:48 AM.
Bobby, this was my first view of the Chile youngsters, and I was impressed. Incidentally, I thought that Medina has an amazing physical and facial resemblance to Pippi Inzaghi, and he plays like him too. Not as flashy as some of the other Chileans, but his goal was like lightning. I think that he might make it big time, how about you?
Tintagel - A very close resemblance to Inzaghi. There were five or six players who you could see becoming full internationals and impact players. It was beyond playing against a poorer team.
A big lack of performance by Canada. I was expecting much more from this young canadian team. Let's hope they will bounce back against Congo and Austria
Is it just me, or does the level of "gamesmanship" (please read diving and faking injury) increase with the "talent" of a player. I suppose as long as the power nations of FIFA are in Latin America and the Mediterranean, we won't see any serious action against these prima donnas. I admit that the Canadian performance was one of the worst I have ever seen, but I saw more diving and faking from Chile when they were ahead then when the score was level. Is this their way of "controlling" the game? Also, the PK given to Portugal against New Zealand was the biggest piece of #### I have seen in many years. Letting the play continue for half a minute, then calling it back because Portuguese baby was crying on the field. Time to take this b******t out of the game. Players with skill should not debase themselves by these theatrics and trickery. It cheapens the game and makes a fool out of the refs.
EdmGunner1 - Every country does it, it is just that some do it more than others. What bugs me is commentators who seem to think that when a player goes down in the penalty area that there are only two decisions - a penalty or a card for simulation - and trots out the old "the referee should book him" if he doesn't give a penalty. There is a third and obvious possibility and that is that it just happens through incidental contact. If you lean into a player and he is stronger and you hit the deck it doesn't mean that he fouled you or that you were diving.
Bobby, Can't agree more, over 25 years as the man in the middle, quite often you have to tell the guy to get up and get on with the game. That said, I can remember when I was first introduced to the game in the 70s being told, "watch the players from South America, they'll fall on the ground with the slightest contact and writhe in pain until they get the call." At what point does FIFA clamp down on the stupidity?
Sunny (pronounced "Sonny") is Nigerian-born and recently moved to Valencia. Bertie Vogts, the current Nigerian coach, has been after him, but Sunny has opted to play for Spain.
I don't believe that there's any country, Brazil included, that has had so many players capped for so many different countries. Off the top of my head, Nigerian-born (and for most parts bred) footballers have represented at full international level: the US (Jean Harbour), England, Malta, Israel, Togo (Emannuel Adebayor), Poland and Ghana.
My suggestion made during last summer's WC was retro active puishment using video evidence. A good example would be the Jordan player who collapsed yesterday in his own penalty box and got a Zambian player sent off. The video evidence on FIFA.com clearly shows that nothing happened.
I must blame the coaches both National and Provincial for Canada's dismal performance. They continually pick players that run hard and do as they're told but are technically poor. We must teach the kid's proper technique so they are comfortable on the ball and do not have to keep getting rid of it. My home country (Scotland) is even worse. Archie Gemmill should be ashamed of that performance. Quit teaching the kids to have more bottle and "get stuck in" instead show them how to keep a ball at their feet and how to pass it without hoofin it up the park.
PGazza - absolutely spot on. And I doubt that there are many people in Scotland who realize how off the mark they are. For a country that produced the likes of Alex James, Billy Steel, Jimmy Johnstone, John White, Charlie Cooke, Denis Law, Jim Baxter, Kenny Dalglish and many more it is a tragedy that they put out a team that is so devoid of the basic skills.
The lesson for Canada and the USA is, as you wrote, focus on skill developmemt not just strength and endurance.
Last edited by BobbyMcMahon on July 2nd at 8:25 PM.
a few quick responses to previous comments here.
the retroactive video for play acting suggestion is a pretty good one, it is already used now to re-look at red cards for suspensions, etc...
comments made on canada, u.s. and scotland basic skill needs are #### on, often these countries seem to be able to run around endlessly, yet all too often it all rather aimlessly and the ball control skills are not up to par
lastly, just (finally) watched the spain-uruguay match, very entertaining 2nd half, uruguay showing some great play and then spain really roaring back, though, does anyone else feel the uruguay keeper made a dreadful mess of both crosses that led to the 2 spain goals?
Thank you for saying what needed to be said about Canada's poor showing against Chile. This was a boys against men show, as much as I hate to admit it. Some of the moments in this game - when Mathias Vidangossy had the ball, when a Canadian pass was hurried - made me wonder how much of the pre-tournament hype I had swallowed without skepticism.
As an ex-pat living in the U.S., I was sort of glad that I didn't have to read the Canadian newspapers trying to figure out what happened in this one. One of your co-workers on the FSN report reminded me of how it might have gone: "oh the Chileans and their diving." Come on. This was a clinic, plain and simple.
That said, as a die-hard Canadian soccer fan hoping to see the game grow in Canada, I'm hopeful that the U-20 squad rallies for the games in Edmonton. A packed house and a pair of victories, or at least a draw and a win, or whatever it takes to advance, could be huge for trying to push Canadian soccer ahead, instead of pushing the ball backwards.
In hockey terms, let's face it, we're Lithuania right now. Participating, but not threatening to win any trophies.
Thanks for the insightful blog Bobby! You have cleared the muddled playoff picture to a point where it is somewhat understandable.
Just a little rant with regards to the Canadian squad; the Canucks have not had the talent that they have on this squad in years, so much promise ... It is truly disappointing to see them come out so flat against Chile when a few weeks earlier they played so well against the defending Under 20 champions, Argentina. Having witnessed the Chilean game live I asked myself why such a dramatic difference in such a short span and the answer was crystal clear – Dale Mitchell Canadian head coach. He was totally out coached in game one and panicked in game two! The Chilean squad obviously did their homework and insured that speedster Jamie Peters would not be permitted to burn them with his acceleration and quickness. How you may ask? By playing 90% of the first half on the left side of the field, the opposite of Mr. Peters. With minutes left in the first half Mr. Mitchell catches on and switches Jamie to the left side moving the biggest liability of the Canadian squad S. Jackson to the right (should have been right bench). With a gusting wind against them the Canadians could not string two passes together, long ball after long ball finding the feet of the opponents – I felt like I was watching a high school game. The midfield, totally non-existent during the game, as though they were out numbered, well they were! On attack the weak side winger would join the center of the mid field with the weak side Chilean defender overlapping to join
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