Group A (Toronto & Edmonton)
Canada, Chile, Congo and Austria.

As host nations in international tournaments generally do, Canada has benefited by a good group draw. With only a third of the teams going home after the group stage Canada has a terrific opportunity to make it to the knock-out rounds.

A place in the last sixteen should be a minimum for Canada while moving onto the last eight would be considered a successful tournament. Anything beyond that would be Canada punching well above their weight.

Although the Canadian players are generally short of the top level experience enjoyed by some of the top countries in the competition they will benefit from having six players back from the previous Under-20 tournament in Holland in 2005. Coach Dale Mitchell was also in charge two years ago.

The Canadians have undergone one of the most intensive periods of preparation of any Canadian international soccer team and should be a well-oiled machine when kick off comes.

In his days as a player Dale Mitchell was lethal from free-kicks and you can look for Canada to take advantage of set piece opportunities. The spine of this team will dictate how far it goes so look for the likes of Asmir Begovic in goal, David Edgar at centre back, Will Johnson in midfield and Andrea Lombardo who will run all day for the cause up front. A concern for the squad is the relative depth should they hit injuries and / or suspensions.  

The schedule has also been kind to the hosts as they face Chile on Canada Day in front of a sold out BMO Field. Chile will also be without their star turn Alexis Sanchez. Sanchez is suspended, as is at least one more Chilean player and possibly another two. Sanchez is considered a phenomenon in South America having been capped by the senior Chilean national team only two months after his 16th birthday in 2005.

Serie A club Udinese signed the youngster for $4M but left him on loan at Colo Colo in Chile. It was a move that paid off for Colo Colo as Sanchez helped lead his club to the final of the 2006 Copa Sudamericana only to lose to Pachuca of Mexico. Regular viewers of the Fox Soccer Report will remember some of his displays. Sanchez excels when running at defenders and has a bag of tricks that allows him to dribble out of tight spaces. Free-kicks are another specialty.

Central defender Arturo Vidal had an outstanding South American qualifying campaign and as well as being called up to the senior squad he earned a move to Bayer Leverkusen in Germany. Midfielder Mathias Vidangossy (Villarreal) plays a critical role in Chile’s counter-attacking style although his finishing still leaves much to be desired.

Chile qualified as the fourth places country in South America and only beat out Paraguay on goal difference. Coach Jose Sulantay was in charge of the under-20 side in Holland two summers ago.

Given the performances from African countries at previous under-20 tournaments Congo deserves respect, particularly as Congo arrives as African Champions. In the last eleven tournaments stretching back to 1985 African nations have provide nine top four finishers even though Africa has still to provide a champion.

Congo may have benefited from hosting the qualifying tournament but still handled perennial finalists Nigeria 1-0 to become African Champions. Congo’s striker Fabrice Nguessi Ondama was named best player at the African tournament.

Austria last qualified when the competition was held in Mexico in 1985. Austria slipped through the preliminary round of European qualifying group when they finished five points behind group winners France but progressed after beating out Wales on goal difference. The Austrians then hit their stride in the next round beating Russia, Slovenia and Hungary all be single goals.

In the final round of qualifying Austria finished second behind the Czech Republic in Group A ahead of Poland and Belgium. A 4-1 win over Belgium remains the only win of consequence for Austria. In the semi final the team collapsed in the face of a Spanish onslaught that saw the eventual European Champions run up a 5-0 win.

If Austria has any chance to move on it will be down to the form of striker Erwin Hoffer (Admira Wacker) who scored four goals in three group qualifying games but missed the game against Spain through a suspension after picking up too many yellow cards.
 
Predicted finish – 1. Canada, 2. Chile, 3. Congo and 4. Austria.

Team Updates

Aldo writes to say that attended Chile’s first practice and the team is “surprised at how hot it can get in Canada”. The weather is something that might be a shock for a lot of teams.

Eric managed to catch the second half of the warm up game between South Korea and the Czech Republic. “Thousands of Koreans singing and chanting, one solitary Czech guy! Korea scored a cracker in the second half, they looked fast and skillful, knocked the ball around well. Czechs were more interested in punt and run. Big Guys up front for the Czechs. Korea could maybe surprise a few, but it was only exhibition”.

Other news

Olympic Stadium is looking at an extra expense. It seems that the Canadian Soccer Association agreed to rent a moveable artificial surface from an Australian company only to have the surface fail FIFA’s quality control and certification process. Ironically the CSA now has to buy a surface at an estimated cost of $500,000 from Montreal-based Field Turf.

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.

Tomorrow a preview of Group D – Brazil, USA, South Korea and Poland.

For those regulars looking for the weekend preview it has been pre-empted by the FIFA Under-20 World Cup blog. However, here are a couple of unrelated articles anyways.

Stephen Brunt in the Globe & Mail has officially declared that soccer has taken root in Central Canada.

A clear sign that things are quiet in the UK as the Times has Gabriele Marcotti picking his top 50 players.

We may be three years away from the Finals but qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will be getting underway in two months time.

Back to the Under-20s. International age-group championships are extremely difficult to predict because of the constant turnover as players progress. With the exception of Brazil and Argentina, who have both consistently delivered great teams, you are never quite sure what you are going to get from the other countries.

The media tends to relate the strength of teams competing at age-group championships with senior squads. However, it has been shown that this a poor predictor of success.  
Take Italy, France and Germany for example. In the last seven world cups these countries have delivered between them four World Cups and have been  runners-up five times.

Compare that to the twelve Under-20 championships held since 1983 and the same three countries can account for one runners-up spot – that in 1987 when the then West Germany lost to the then Yugoslavia. Drill-down to the under-17 level and it doesn’t get much better – France won in 2001 and West Germany in 1985.

If there are any hints of what to expect, sometimes clues can be found be looking at the countries performance at the Under-17 Championship held two years prior. Although the age groups do not line up perfectly  there has only been one occasion out of nine when a top four country at the Under-17s has not at least matched that record two years later at the Under-20s.

And that is not solely down to the traditional powerhouses of South America. The likes of Ghana, Nigeria, Germany and Spain have top four finishes in different age-group competitions two years apart.

So what happened at the Under-17 World Cup held in Peru two years ago? The winners were Mexico who beat Brazil 3-0 in the final. Netherlands took third and Turkey fourth. Only the two finalists out of the final four have qualified for Canada 2007.

Meanwhile five other countries that qualified for Peru 2005 have also made it through the qualification process to the under-20s in Canada. Costa Rica made it to the quarter finals in 2005 before losing to the eventual winners Mexico. Mexico had trailed 1-0 for most of the game before snatching an equalizer with only two minuts remaining. Two goals from Mexico in extra time saw Costa Rica exit the competition.

Gambia did not make it out of the group stage but were desperately unfortunate. They finished tied on points with Brazil and Netherlands but failed to move on due to an inferior goal difference. What made it worse was that Gambia missed a late penalty when down 2-0 to Netherlands when a successful attempt would have seen them qualify. Perhaps Gambia might be a country that should not be written off too quickly in the Under-20s. 

Another Brazil victim was North Korea but again the eventual silver medalists were pushed all the way. The North Koreans took Brazil to extra time before eventually losing 3-1.

The USA won their group comfortably but could not deal with a Dutch side in the last eight. The remaining country Uruguay finished bottom of their group losing all three games.

Coming up tomorrow a look at some of the stars from Peru 2005 and where they are now.

From Aldo, some information on the Chile team. Colo Colo star Alexis Sanchez forward that’s heading back to Udinese of Italy this upcoming season will miss the first match against Canada due to a red card suspension from the last game of the qualifiers back in January. Also missing this match due to red or yellow card accumulations are Hans Martínez, Jaime Grondona and Juan Pablo Arenas.

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 post your link under comments.

The tournament starts on June 30, with the final set for Toronto on July 22. Make sure to tune in nightly to the Fox Soccer Report at 10:00 EST on Fox Sports World Report in Canada and Fox Soccer Channel in the USA.