Sergio Aguero will garner the headlines but there was much to admire in Argentina’s overall performance and their 3-1 win over Poland. With the second half only seconds old Aguero flicked to ball up and over the Polish defender, pivoted and deposited the ball past Bialkowski.

Aguero’s second of the game, with only five minutes remaining, was another for the highlight reel as he took the ball past the keeper in Romario-style (around the 400 goal mark not the thousand) and rolled the ball over the line.

The first goal from Argentina that pegged the Poles back to 1-1 was simply spectacular. Banega who was the source of such much creative play in the Argentine midfield started the play ten yards inside his own half. The ball eventually reached little Moralez the other side of the halfway line and he proceeded to skin four Polish defenders. Given the outcome the last defender must have regretted pulling out of a tackle which would have stopped the Argentine number 17 but would have likely led to a yellow card.

On Moralez went playing a one-two that he then picked up in the penalty box before squaring to Di Maria who scored. Moralez operated just behind the front two and his pace and dribbling skills were a constant menace to Poland.

Eight minutes before Dawid Janczyk had put the Poles into the lead after the Argentine defense was caught ball watching. Was it offside? Perhaps, but it was an extremely close call and Argentina did not appeal the decision.

Poland was a worthy opponent and tackled ferociously but fairly most of time and Janczyk’s sending off in the last seconds of the game was more due to frustration than any malicious intent.

Argentina moves on and awaits Mexico or Congo in the quarter final.

As a post-script fifteen minutes after the game the Argentina fans are holding an impromptu celebration in the north end of BMO Field that looks as if it is going to continue for a good while.

Oh what a weird and wonderful game football is. While Poland made the headlines with the opening game win over Brazil in the FIFA under-20 World Cup, the USA was lucky to escape with a point from a match against South Korea. Three days on and Poland was on the wrong end of a 6-1 thrashing from a rampant American side.

What’s more it was the Poles that took the early lead from Dawid Janczyk. But rather than providing the foundation for a second win it was, apart from a shot in the second half that struck the USA post, the last thing of any consequence generated by Poland.  Less than five minutes after the Poles took the lead Danny Szetela arrived in the Polish penalty box and finessed a header past Bialkowski of Southampton.

Ten minutes after that and Freddy Adu provided a glimpse of the talent that is so often hidden when he curled a beautiful left shot past the Polish keeper. Zizzo was the creator and just on the stroke of half time the same two teamed up for a killer goal.

While most players would be looking to run down the clock until half time Zizzo picked the ball up in is own half and drove past numerous Polish players and into the penalty box before laying the ball back to Adu. Adu curled another left footed shot past a helpless keeper.

If the Poles were to recover they needed to strike early in the second half. Instead it was Svetela taking advantage of terrible marking by the Polish central defenders to slip through and drill home the fourth goal for the USA. After good work down the left side Altidore scored his first of the tournament with twenty minutes to go. The scoring was completed when Adu was fed in by Rogers and despite an attempt to “Beasley” it the USA captain completed his hat trick and a famous route.

So why the turnaround? To start with Poland gave the USA much more room than they had given the Brazilians. The Americans were able to find space behind and in front of the Poles back four. The Poles never gave up that space to the Brazilians. The same was true of space on the wings. Against South Korea Rogers and Zizzo were forced inside to help out a central midfield that was under threat of being overrun was much of the game.

The Poles were never allowed to put Svetela and Bradley under the same pressure and the pair were able to play balls into Adu up front or wide to Zizzo and Rogers. With four points in the bag and a plus five goal difference it would need some exceptional circumstances for the USA not to move on to the last sixteen.

Freddy Adu will garner the headlines but there were a number of excellent performances throughout the USA team. The back four was caught square on the Poles goal but apart from that the defense was rarely troubled. Szetela made it three goals in two games and Zizzo put in a terrific shift on the right side of midfield.

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.

You can also use this blog to contribute your thoughts on the South Korea vs. Brazil game tonight. I have an Old-Timers game tonight so I will be taping the game and watching it later.

If Brazil is to win the FIFA under-20 World Cup they will have to do what Argentina did two years ago – recover after losing their first game. In 2005 the USA pulled off the upset, this time it was Poland. What’s more Poland did it playing for over an hour after Krzysztof Krol of Real Madrid was sent off after collecting a second yellow card from referee Howard Webb.

Krol’s dismissal came just minutes after Bordeaux’s Grzegorz Krychowiak curled a 30-yard free kick over the Brazilian wall for what turned out to be Poland’s only shot on goal and in turn, the only goal of the game. The free kick was well struck but the positioning of Brazilian goalkeeper Cassio was dreadful. 

In the first half the Poles picked up two other yellow cards while embarking on a policy of take-no-prisoners. With the possibility of going down to nine men only one mistimed tackle away Poland showed a great deal more discipline and control in the second half as they comfortably absorbed pressure from Brazil.

Brazil dominated possession (62-38) over the ninety minutes but failed miserably when it came to creating clear cut chances. If Brazil was to score it was going to come through Lima (first half) and Renato (second half) but time after time the final pass failed to find its mark.

The Brazilians lacked width in attack and tenacity up front. Luizao at centre back hardly put a foot wrong for Brazil and was by far their best player.

For Poland, Dawid Janczyk was tireless during his 73 minutes on the pitch while Strugarek and Fojut were both immense in defence. In all a poor Brazilian performance that a solid and motivated Polish side punished.

Team Notes
"The New Zealand midfielder Chris James has withdrawn from the FIFA under-20 football World Cup in Canada, citing family reasons.The 19-year-old is returning to his home in London, ruling him out of New Zealand's group C matches against Portugal, Gambia and Mexico from Tuesday.He can't be replaced under FIFA regulations, leaving New Zealand one player short of the 21 allowed.New Zealand face a tough opener against the two-time champions Portugal at Toronto's National Soccer Stadium. Kick off's at a quarter past six on Tuesday morning, New Zealand time." New Zealand Radio.

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 on the tournament.

Group D (Montreal, Ottawa)
Poland, Brazil, Korea Republic and USA.

Coach Michal Globisz has coached numerous Polish age group teams but he has his work cut out if Poland is to make an impact on this tournament. Poland has not been at this level in this age bracket since 1983.

Poland hosted the final eight in Europe and was exempted from the early rounds of qualifying. As it was, they qualified after finishing third in their group beating Belgium on goal difference. A 4-1 win over Belgium was the pivotal result and a hat trick from Legia Warsaw striker Dawid Janczyk crucial. UEFA.com described Janczyk as “the brightest light in a disappointing campaign for the hosts.” And went on to say, “calm and collected in front of goal, Janczyk’s nerveless finishing provided his side with a valuable cutting edge.”  

In years past Brazil may have been known for nuts and coffee but ever since their first World Cup win in 1958 Brazil has been known the world over for football. But although Brazil and Brazilian players have provided some of the most memorable footballing moments of the last 50 years “the beautiful game” branding is a product of a time long-gone.

Brazil learned through the dark days from 1971 to 1993 that beautiful football is not necessarily enough to win world championships and they now approach each tournament with a cold pragmatism that is often at the opposite end of the “beautiful game.” (I should add that in the case of the 2006 World Cup sentimentality trumped pragmatism!).

Even so Brazil arrives as 4-times winners of this competition and has played in 14 of the 15 tournaments. The squad is as impressive as Brazil’s history and perhaps the strength of the squad can be gauged by the quality of players who didn’t make the cut - players such as Kerlon, Ramon, Thiago Heleno, Eliezio and Carlinhos.

Alexandre Pato will be touted as the player to watch but that has more to do with his exceptional debut in the Brazilian Championship in November of last year. Playing for Internacional against Palmeiras Pato scored in the first minute and set up two more before half time.

The star of this Brazilian squad would most certainly have been Anderson but although named in the initial squad of 25 he was moved to the senior squad and will play at the Copa America. Anderson, still only 18, recently joined Manchester United from Porto.

Jo (sometimes revered to as Joao) has just turned 20 and is in his second season with Russian club CSKA Moscow. He scored 14 goals in his first 18 appearances for CSKA before injuring a knee. Even so he was called into the full Brazilian squad for a friendly against England a month or so ago.

Some others to watch.
Cassio (Gremio) was the third choice keeper for Brazil at the South American qualifying competition but was still widely considered the best goalie on show.

Lucas plays midfield for Gremio but looks to be on his way to Liverpool. A central midfield player who can take care of both defensive and attacking responsibilities he is outstanding at timing his runs into the penalty box and often scoring.

Marcelo joined Real Madrid from Fluminense this past winter and is regarded as the successor to Roberto Carlos at both Real Madrid and for the Brazil national side. Marcelo can also play in midfield according to some reports. 

Renato Augusto is revered to in the June edition of World Soccer as “a right-footed version of the young Rivaldo”. His club coach Ney Franco (Flamengo) believes that within two years Renato Augusto will be one of the best players in Brazil. You can expect to see him in an attacking role playing just behind the main strikers. 

Korea Republic has made regular appearances in this tournament and made it to the 1983 semi finals. Earlier this year they finished third in Asian qualification having lost to Japan on penalties in the semi-finals. Shim Young-Sung was the top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals and he will likely carry the scoring load again.

This will be the USA’s sixth straight appearance and their eleventh in all. Their best performance was in 1989 when he finished fourth in Saudi Arabia. Coach Thomas Rongen has put together what looks to be an experienced squad with heavy MLS and European representation.

Freddy Adu will attract most of the media interest even though he arrives at this competition looking more and more like a player with a great future behind him. There are a number of players who are ready to show that they have overtaken the much-hyped Freddy and the under-20 World Cup provides an ideal platform.

Josie Altidore (New York Red Bulls) made an instant impact on MLS when he made his debut as a 16-year-old last season. Goal scorers are hard to find and when one so young shows scouts are attracted like moths to a flame (or Paris Hilton to a camera).

Michael Bradley played in five games at the recent Gold Cup and can be considered a certain starter in midfield for the US.

Nathan Sturgis played at Holland 2005 and recently moved from LA Galaxy to Real Salt Lake. Rumours had Rangers interested in the young defender a few weeks ago.

Dax McCarty and Danny Szetela will compete for midfield spots while a number of American fans are relishing the chance to see Bolton striker Johann Smith in action.

Predicted finish – 1. Brazil, 2. USA, 3. South Korea and 4. Poland.

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.