Group F (Victoria, Vancouver) Japan, Scotland, Costa Rica and Nigeria.
Japan arrives at this tournament with a solid record of achievement. Five times in the last six tournaments Japan has made it to knock out stage. On three of those occasions they made it the last eight while in 1999 in Nigeria Japan lost 4-0 to Spain in the final. Frenchman Philippe Troussier, who went on to lead Japan at the 2002 World Cup, had players such as Junichi Inamoto, Shinji Ono and Naohiro Takehara available to him.
Coach Yasushi Yoshida arrives with a team that likely has as much promise as the 1999 edition. Tsukasa Umesaki (Oita Trinita) has already been capped by Japan at the senior level while centre half Yohei Fukumoto (Oita Trinita), Yosuke Kashiwagi (Sanfreece Hiroshima), Atsuto Uchida (Kashima Antlers), and Atomu Tanaka (Albirex Niigata) are all highly touted.
Japan finished second to North Korea in Asian group qualifying having been beaten on penalties in the final. However, it is worth noting that the countries did play each other twice before in 2007 qualifying and Japan won 1-0 and 2-0.
Scotland is one of the surprise qualifiers in this tournament. Scotland took one of the two available spots in the qualifying round of European qualifying before being drawn into a group with France in the elite round. Most pundits expected a Scots’ exit but instead France stumbled when they played to a scoreless tie with Belarus. This left Scotland only needing to avoid defeat against France in order to move on. This they did courtesy of a Steven Fletcher (Hibs) goal.
Fletcher was again prominent in the final round of qualifying although both he and fellow striker Robert Snodgrass missed the final game loss to Spain. Unlike previous editions of Scottish teams at World Cup’s this squad appears to carry a fair amount of striking power. Both Fletcher and Snodgrass are in the Scottish squad while Calum Elliot (Hearts) and Graham Dorrans (Livingstone) also scored important goals during the qualifying rounds.
Lee Wallace (Hearts), Mark Reynolds (Motherwell) and Garry Kenneth (Dundee United) have all played for their clubs in the SPL. The heat of eastern Europe was a problem for Scotland last summer so being based in Victoria with it’s more moderate climate is a major break for the Scots.
Tommy Wilson, one of Scotland’s coaches told the Scotsman newspaper - "We use a lot of role models in video presentations to the boys as part of our preparations. For example, we use a lot of footage of Muhammad Ali, his quotes, clips of him in the gym and the way he totally dominated opponents with both his physical and mental approach.” We will see!!
Costa Rica finished second to Mexico in a two-part CONCACAF qualification process. This is Costa Rica’s fifth appearance in the finals – which considering Costa Rica’s status in CONCACAF is surprisingly low – and two appearances in the second round is the best they have done.
The majority of Coach Geovanny Alfaro’s squad is domestically based with only highly-regarded goalkeeper Alfonso Quesada and defender Dave Myrie (both Cadiz) playing abroad.
Jean Carlos Solorzano carries most of the goal scoring threat while Celso Borges is the creative force in midfield.
Striker Cesar Elizondo (Saprissa) and defender Rudy Dawson (Alajuela) are two other players who are regularly mentioned as key players.
It seems a regular occurrence for Nigeria to arrive in disarray at a major tournament and Canada 2007 seems to be no different. Cancelled training camps, funding disputes and criticism from home are only a few of the obstacles facing this Nigerian team. But perhaps the strangest thing about this squad is the total lack of players from the side that finished as runners-up to Argentina in 2005.
Seven players were eligible to compete again but not one has been named to this squad. What is more only two players out of the pool of twenty-one meet the maximum cut off criteria of 1987. Fourteen players have birth years of 1988 while the remaining five have 1989 listed.
Only four players are currently registered with foreign-based players. If you didn’t know any better you might think Nigeria is more interested in putting players in the shop-window than fielding the best available team.
However, having twice finished as runners-up and once in third place, Nigeria has shown in the past that raw talent can overcome administrative ineptitude so they should not be underestimated.
Predicted finish – 1.Japan, 2.Nigeria, 3.Scotland and 4. Costa Rica.
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.
On Friday we looked at the results from Under-17 World Cup held in Peru two years ago in the hope that it might provide some clues as to who and what to watch for as the Under-20 World Cup kicks off in Canada on June 30.
Here is a rundown of the stars from the 2005 tournament as picked and described by World Soccer (in quotes) at the time with an update on where they are now.
Carlos Vela (Mexico) Striker 5 goals, Golden Shoe Winner “Tournament top scorer (edit. Golden Shoe winner with 5 goals). Consistently too quick for his marker and finished well, both in the air and with his left foot.”
Where is he now? Vela was transferred to Arsenal from Chivas Guadalajara in 2005. He was subsequently loaned to Celta Vigo but they opted not to keep him for the 2006/07 season and instead he moved to Salamanca of the Spanish Second division. Often played on the left side of midfield Vela still found the net for Salamanca on a regular base. He may return to Celta Vigo (just relegated from La Liga) next season before finally making a move to Arsenal sometime in 2008.
“Ramon (Brazil) Midfield 4 goals Tall, strong attacking midfielder. Needs to improve his discipline but has huge promise.”
Where is he now? At the time of the 2005 Under-17 tournament Ramon was with Atletico Mineiro. He then moved to Corinthians before joining fellow Brazilians Jo, Wagner Love and Daniel Carvalho at CSKA Moscow. Ramon is not in the Brazilian squad of 21.
“Celso Borges (Costa Rica) Midfield 1 goal Playmaker who caught the eye with defence-splitting passes and raking shots.”
Where is he now? Son of former Costa Rica and now Panama Coach Alexandre Guimaraes, Borges is still with Deportivo Saprissa of Costa Rica and continues to improve and mature. Borges will be a key member of the Costa Rica team in Canada.
“Choe Myong #### (North Korea) Midfield 3 goals The “Korean Ronaldo” soon proved to be something different – a midfielder who can pass, shoot, and cross with power and subtlety.”
Where is he now? Choe Myong #### is one of the few - perhaps only - North Korean players playing outside of his country. He now plays for FC Krylya Sovetov Samara in the Russian Premier League. He was injured during most of Asian qualifying and contributed little. Despite reports that he had recovered his fitness he does not appear to be on the North Korean squad for the tournament.
“Ofori Sarkodie (USA) Defender 1 goal A contender for defender of the tournament. Cool, neat and classy in everything he did.”
Where is he now? The 2005 NSCAA/adidas National Youth Player of the Year, currently plays with the University of Indiana although he has trained with the Columbus Crew. Sarkdorie captained the under-17 tea and is in the USA pool for the Under-20 tournament and is likely to make the starting eleven.
“Ceesay Momodou (Gambia) Striker 2 goals Giant striker who terrified defenders with swift turns and strong surges. Needs to work on his left foot, but is certainly one to watch.”
Where is he now? Nicknamed Zico, Momodou missed the African qualifying competition in Congo earlier this year after undergoing surgery in Switzerland late in 2006. Reports indicate that the surgery was needed to clear up an injury that the player had been carrying since 2005. Momodou does not appear on the Gambian under-20 squad list.
So out of the six stars on the Under-17 tournament picked by World Soccer two years ago it looks as if only 50% will be playing at the Under-20s in Canada. A confirmation if it was needed that the gap between promising youngster and emerging star can be a huge one.
On the other side of the equation Anderson (Brazil) was the winner of the Golden Ball at Peru 2005 and was eligible for Canada 2007. However, Anderson has been called up to the senior squad for the Copa America and recently completed a multi million dollar move from Porto to Manchester United.
It is also interesting to see how many players who were young enough to play in 2005 at the under-20s in Holland, but still qualified for Canada 2007 and actually made it.
The winners Argentina could have had both Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero appear in Holland and Canada but we will have to make do with the latter. Runners-up Nigeria had seven players (Daddy Bazuaye, John Obi Mikel, Promise Isaac, Solomon Okoronkwo, Dele Adeleye, Kola Anubi, John Owoeri) who could have played in both tournaments but amazingly none of them have been named to the Nigerian squad.
As chance would have it Chelsea’s John Obi Mikel was in the news last week. He was suspended by the Nigerian FA from all Nigerian national teams after failing to accept a call up to the senior national team.
Canada is the complete opposite to Nigeria. When they traveled to Holland two summer’s ago six players (Jaime Peters, Will Johnson, Jonathan Beaulieu-Bourgault, David Edgar, Andrea Lombardo and Asmir Begovic) were hoping to repeat and all have.
The USA has also made full use of the players who picked up invaluable experience in Holland. Nathan Sturgis and Freddy Adu (now Real Salt Lake teammates) as well as Danny Szetela of the Columbus Crew are on the squad.
South Korea have two returnees (Jong Jin Park and Young Rok Shin) while Panama’s Celso Polo made it but Ivan Rodriguez did not. Carlos Carmona was the youngster in the Chile team in 2005 and now brings experience to the team. However, Japan’s Takayuki Morimoto was unable to make it two appearances at the Under-20 World Cup.
Warm-up Games Some warm-up games have been played over the weekend. New Zealand lost 3-0 to Costa Rica (Borges 2, Solorzano) while the USA beat Chile 2-1. Adu and Rogers scored for the US while Alexis Sanchez got Chile’s goal from the penalty spot.
South Korea scored the only goal of the game to beat the Czech Republic.
Suspensions According to a FIFA media release the following players are not eligible to play in their team's respective first match due to a suspension carried over from previous competition:
Zambia 5 NYAMBE Henry is not eligible to play Match #6: Jordan - Zambia (01.07.2007). Panama 6 CASTANEDA Francisco is not eligible to play Match #3: Korea DPR - Panama (30.06.2007). Argentina 8 SANCHEZ Matias is not eligible to play Match #4: Argentina - Czech Rep. (30.06.2007). CHI 11 GRONDONA Jaime is not eligible to play Match #5: Canada - Chile (01.07.2007). CHI 10 ARENAS Juan is not eligible to play Match #5: Canada - Chile (01.07.2007). CHI 17 MARTINEZ Hans is not eligible to play Match #5: Canada - Chile (01.07.2007). CHI 7 SANCHEZ Alexis is not eligible to play Match #5: Canada - Chile (01.07.2007).
However, I received an e mail from Chile fan Pablo Oliva who tells me that the Chilean FA is still hopeful of having the suspensions for Grondona and Martinez set aside. We will keep you updated on this as this week progresses.
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 blog and you have information on the tournament you can post your link under comments.
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
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