Well day one is done and not many people would have bet that both Brazil and Argentina would complete the first day of competition without a win and without a goal. Argentina arrived as a strong defensive team and that was clearly on show against the Czech Republic.

Argentina dominated possession (59 to 41) and attempts on goal (22 to 2) but was missing an out-and-out goal scorer to get on the end of the numerous build-ups.

Ironically it was the Czechs who had the best chance of the game when Argentine keeper Romero opted to charge the Czech attacker on a break away and Argentina had to rely on substitute Acosta to clear the ball as it rolled towards the goal line.

Replays also showed that the Czechs were denied a first half penalty when Fenin tripped in the penalty box. Rather than pointing to the spot the referee booked the Czech player for diving. 

Moralez was the main threat (and a crowd pleaser to boot) during the first half while Banega dominated the second half for Argentina. Banega 's style was reminiscent of former great Fernando Redondo while Sergio Aguero often looks like a young Romario. 

Group E finishes day one with no goals and all four countries sitting on a point each. On Tuesday the Czech Republic plays North Korea and Panama plays Argentina. No matter Tuesday’s outcome all four teams are already guaranteed to be in contention on the final day of Group E play on Friday. 

Day 1 Wrap
Decent weather, great crowds, some good football but not a lot of goals.
Player of the Day - Lee Young Sung (South Korea)

TV Broadcast
Low point – The CBC crew of Steve Armitage and Paul Dolan were clueless when Krol was sent off against Brazil. It wasn’t until Krol was walking to the dressing room that it clicked that perhaps he had received something more than a yellow card – even though referee Howard Webb clearly showed a red card straight after the second yellow.  The first was shown 20 minutes earlier.

Please stop – refering to Canada as Team Canada.

High point – On the Argentina – Czech Republic game CBC used Steve Banyard as the play-by-play announcer and he was as usual excellent.

Blame it on the Boogie - CBC is using two in-studio analysts as well as two play-by-play crews. Of the four experts (two colour commentators and two in-studio analysts) three are former goalkeepers (Paul Dolan, Craig Forrest and #### Howard) and a left back (Bob Lenarduzzi). Don’t be surprised if Bob gets blamed if any of the former goalkeepers makes a mistake.

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.

You can also check out the National Post blog.