Gambia and Mexico put on a great display of football in what was, in my opinion, the best game of the FIFA under-20 World Cup so far. Although started the game more strongly than their African opponents it did not take long for Gambia to find their feet.

If it wasn’t for Mexico’s keeper Blanco, Gambia might have led at half time. Blanco pulled off two terrific saves to make sure that when half time arrived the game would still be scoreless.

Gambia started the second half as they had finished the first and when Mexico took the lead it was against the run of play. As a loose ball bounced on the left edge of the Gambian penalty box Giovanni Dos Santos pivoted a cracked a left shot past keeper Joe Gomez and into the roof of the net. A great and unexpected strike from Dos Santos, who had been up to that point in the game, restricted to a single shot.

Still Gambia pushed forward as the team teams traded attacks but after Mexico scored a second goal with a little over twenty minutes left there was no way back for the Gambians. The second goal was scored by defender Moreno but only after the first three Mexican attempts had hit the post, been cleared off the line and parried by the goalkeeper.

Although Gambia continued to push forward it was with less conviction. And given the critical importance of goal difference in deciding the best third place finishers it may turn out to be the most pragmatic course of action.

As the Gambian legs grew tired Mexico scored a third to put them top of the group. Javier Hernandez had come into the game as a late substitute and after running across the Gambian defence he was able to roll the ball into an empty net.

Here’s hoping that the third goal does not come back to haunt Gambia. The tournament could do with their spirit and commitment to attacking football in the knock out rounds. 

Stand outs for Mexico were Dos Santos (based on his goal alone) and Villaluz. Gambia got great performances from defender Pierre Gomez, Bojang and Jallow.

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.

This blog is up a little bit earlier than usual.

Group C (Toronto, Edmonton & Montreal)
Portugal, New Zealand, Gambia and Mexico

Portugal is one of the few nations that can boast of winning a world football title and what is more they have done it twice. Back in 1989 Portugal won the World under-20s and then retained the title two years later. However, it has been eight years since they last made it to the tournament that all Portuguese consider to be very special.

Former Porto Coach Jose Couceiro is in charge of a squad that on paper looks to be strong but that disappointed in qualifying. To make it to the final round in Europe Portugal had Macedonia to thank for drawing against both Israel and Croatia.

Grouped with Spain, Scotland and Turkey, Portugal drew all three games but still finished third ahead of Turkey. They had to battle back from two goals down to share the points with Scotland but led 3-1 and 4-3 to Turkey before sharing the spoils.

Under normal circumstance a draw against Spain would have been an excellent result but with Scotland beating Turkey 3-2 it was not enough to move into the semi finals. The consolation was that third place was good enough to book a trip to Canada.

Bruno Gama (Braga) was Portugal’s best player last summer’s and looks set to be the man to watch once again. Defender Antunes (Pacos Ferreira) also comes with high expectations. 

Mexico has already shown that they can play with the best. The win at the under-17 World Cup in Peru two years ago was a long awaited break-through for a country that has historically produced talented but psychologically brittle sides.

Coach Jesus Ramirez was in charge of the world champion squad. A top four finish this time might be enough to encourage the Mexican FA to appoint him to replace Hugo Sanchez who has made an unimpressive start with the senior squad.

Barcelona recognized the new wave of talent emerging from Mexico and has acquired a significant contingent of young Mexican players.

Giovanni Dos Santos, Jorge Hernandez and Efraín Juárez Valdez are all part of the Barcelona set up.

Giovanni Dos Santos’ father was a Brazilian striker called Zizinho who played for America and Leon. The youngster moved to Spain to join Barcelona at the age of twelve after being spotted playing in an international youth tournament. Since then awareness of his prodigious talent has grown exponentially to the point that everyone will tell you that he is a fantastic talent but few have actually seen him play. Over the next few weeks we will. According to the Barcelona coaching staff Dos Santos is primarily a goal scorer but with the other facets of his game gaining quickly.    

Jorge Hernandez is known for his range of passing and is currently on loan with Atlas. Efraín Juárez Valdez (on loan to Barbate) has “impressive ball control, awareness, passing and versatility.” 

Carlos Vela has already been featured in a previous blog.  Cesar Villaluz (Cruz Azul) was part of the attacking troika along with Dos Santos and Vela and should play a key role again.

Patricio Araujo (Chivas Guadalajara) captained the Mexico side in 2005 and will lead to team once more. A defender, Araujo is considered the heir apparent to Mexican central defender Rafael Marquez.

Gambia will be making its debut at this level after proving to be the surprise team in African qualifying when winning the bronze medal. In the group stage they finished top ahead of the hosts Congo, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso but fell 3-1 to Nigeria in the semi final. Ousmane Jallow and Abdoulie Mansaly were pivotal in African qualifying but Gambia will again be missing Momodou Ceasay. Ceasay has been troubled by injury and despite an operation in Switzerland the highly regarded striker will not be in Canada.

New Zealand qualified through the Oceania federation now bereft of the dominant Australians since they moved to the Asian Federation. Even then the Kiwis made heavy work of qualifying and relied heavily on Chris James (Fulham). The New Zealand team will no doubt enjoy the experience but it would be a monumental achievement if they make it to the last sixteen. 

Predicted finish – 1. Mexico, 2. Portugal, 3. Gambia and 4. New Zealand.

Pablo has written to tell us that this is the latest speculation regarding Chile’s starting line-up (3-5-2) for their first game against Canada.

Christopher Toselli in goal; Nicolas larrondo, Mauricio Isla and Christian Suarez; Dagoberto Currimilla, Gary Medel, Arturo Vidal, Carlos Carmona and Gerardo Cortes; Mathias Vidangossy and Nicolas Medina.

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.

atleti_female - I've been thinking about going to the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada this summer. The thought of seeing some of the sport's upcoming stars would definitely make it worth the trek up from NYC. I imagine that U-20 version will be less crowded than the regular World Cup-- is this a correct assumption? (Mind you, I don't see this as a negative, but as a possibility of getting good seats in the games.)

Also, at this stage of the competition, are there any youngsters that have caught your eye-- or, that have been talked about by other analysts?

Bobby - I think that the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Canada this summer is going to be a terrific tournament.  The last announced ticket sales for the six host cities was around 300,000, but many of the sales so far have been cut-price deals to youth players and the soccer fraternity. The 24 team tournament will be held in Ottawa, Toronto, Montréal, (east) and Edmonton, Vancouver, and Victoria (west) in July. The final will be in Toronto.

The draw for the tournament will be made in Toronto, on March 3 and is being televised live in Canada, on CBC television (the rights holder in Canada). The teams to watch - no great insight here - will be Brazil, Argentina, and Spain. As for other teams to look out for I would pick Mexico (they won the under 17 World Cup two years ago), and the Czech Republic (they have produced some very good age-group teams in the last decade). Nigeria has done well at age-group level as well and they are joined by three other African countries Congo, Gambia and Zambia who would be regarded as more unknowns, but potentially very entertaining and exciting.

I don't see the European teams being particularly strong given that they have a “competing” format for the under 21’s. Germany, France, Italy, none of these countries have qualified which I think will be a shock to some people who might be interested in buying tickets but do not necessarily follow the game closely.

The USA should be competitive as it normally is at this level and Canada should definitely make it into the last 16 with a top eight spot a realistic expectation.  It is difficult to say who the players are to watch out for because there is no guarantee that they will be “available”.

He can only hope that the likes of Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas and Carlos Vela (Mexico and Arsenal) Giovanni Dos Santos (Mexico and Barcelona) make appearances. There is also a kid Bojan Krkic (still only 16) who may make the Spanish squad - another Barcelona player.

Just as an aside, North Korea and South Korea have both qualified and will be separated at the group stage.  But what are the odds that North Korea will be drawn together with the USA?

Henry14 – I have to say l do not see Mascherano taking Sissoko's place he will be used as a squad player and the size of his contract appears to me to be more of Benitez accepting that he has taken a gamble. l have to make a brief comment on Tottenham. Martin Jol spend $82m in the transfer window on Zokora, Berbatov, Ghaly, Mido, Ekkoto, and Malbranque and it teams like this that make me appreciate Mourinho, because clearly they are underperforming. Martin Jol seems not to know his first choice midfield paring.

Managers are usually fined when they bad mouth referees do you know what happens to referees when they make bad calls like the Ronaldo and Yakubu tumbles, because l just feel the referees are inconsistent, the next minute they follow the book the other they are trying to use their head, like the Viduka case. And lastly what did you make of the La Liga round this week; in my opinion l just feel La Liga is not cutting it this year.

Bobby - A fully fit and fully functioning Javier Mascherano is a far better player than Mohamed Sisokko, in my opinion. Did Martin Jol spend the money or was it Damien Comolli (Arsenal’s former European scout) the Spurs Sporting Director?

I can't question Berbatov's performances this year, as I think he's been outstanding. I would agree that Spurs have not got their midfield figured out and they still lack balance and need somebody who is naturally left footed.  Lennon and Malbranque played far too wide against Manchester United and left Huddleston and Zokora exposed. It didn't help either that the Spurs defense played very deep.
The defense really misses Ledley King.

As for referees making bad calls - we can expect the perfect referee about the same time that the perfect player is created. Referees are held accountable for their performances probably to a greater extent than players are. It is interesting that you are criticizing the referee for the Ronaldo incident, but make no mention of Ronaldo's contribution. How can you criticize referees when some players go out with the full intention of cheating?

As for the comment about La Liga - I do not understand what you mean by “not cutting it”.  There are 5 or 6 teams in contention for the league title, apart from the bottom two it looks like its going be a real fight for the last relegation spot and they have three teams in the last 16 of the champions league. What in your opinion would constitute cutting it?

Djnima - My first question for you is about Real Madrid. What do you think is their problem this year? They have the talent, they have a good coach. Do they just need time to gel together and hit form?

Also, would you see Wenger cashing in on Henry? I'm sure he could command a huge chunk of change. Isn't that was Wenger likes to do . . . (buy low sell high)

And my final question is about Scolari this week coming out and recommending that Ronaldo leave united for Barca. Do you consider that an irresponsible comment for a national coach to make about the player's current club? It is sure to sour relations between the national team and the club team.

Bobby – I think that Real Madrid is still suffering from the chaos of previous years and the culture shock of being managed by Fabio Capello. Capello is not an adventurous coach, and that's clearly seen by the lack of goals from Real Madrid. Not only is a team losing, but they are losing ugly! The problem is if they get rid of Capello who do they replace him with and if they do the chaos just continues.

Arsene Wenger is not going to be selling Thierry Henry in the near future.

Sometimes in newspapers we see the answer, but we never see the question. I am guessing that that's the case with Scolari.

Gunner44 - I'm also going to ask about Ronaldo on whether you think he should leave Man U? I don't see why he should move because he is been amazing this season and the Man U team has kind of revolved around him this season and he is having a fantastic season. The only reason that he might want to leave is because of social and environmental reasons like the weather just like Reyes did. It's really going to be a big loss for the EPL because as much as I hate Ronaldo, I do think he has been the most entertaining player this season.

Bobby – The Premiership cannot afford to lose players like Ronaldo even though gravity often gets the better of him. To substantiate the television rights fees, not just in England, but around the world the premiership has to be seen as the league that stars come to, rather than the league that they leave.

Foxcube – Man Utd this season have suffered very few injuries whereas other teams such as Arsenal, Newcastle had a team in the medic room at certain points. Could you shed some light on this issue? Another question regards Lippi's interview a short while ago about his possible move the Chelsea. Do you still think Mourinho is on the way despite their recent "revival"? Thanks!

Bobby – There have been seasons when Manchester United has had injuries piling up as well.  Teams do need a bit of luck; it isn't just down to having the best players.
Injuries tend to come and go in cycles but Newcastle seem to be in a perpetual state of injury crisis.  There was some discussion about the quality of their training field a while back but I have no idea whether that was rectified or not. When you consider the amount of money that the top teams spend on players and pay them, you would think that they would be making sure that they train only on the best surfaces. Making sure that players cool down properly and prepare themselves properly is also key.

ulsterson - Do you see any validity to the idea that different skills or talents can be learned in different leagues? The EPL certainly has a different style of play than those on the continent and in South America. Some players have a very difficult time adjusting to the pace and physical nature and some English born players have difficulty outside of the EPL (Just recently read about forwards from the EPL having to be told not to track back as much in Spain or Italy) How do the different leagues around the world affect players development and do you feel the EPL style has in some way hindered the success of the English national team? Thank you and thanks from all of us for all the time you put in on this blog.

Bobby – I think you have to except that different skills and talents can be taught and learned by players in different leagues. The different leagues around the world still have their own characteristics and still represent each country's culture. Glenn Hoddle and John Collins are two players who've often commented on the difference it made to their game when they went to France to play. Sometimes it's not just the on field performance either, but things like lifestyle.  Much has been made of the influence of Arsene Wenger and foreign players on home-grown player’s diets.

The EPL style does “hurt” English national team because at the international level ball possession becomes even more critical.  In the premiership the ball is given away with more abandon and the emphasis is placed on winning it back.

Only1cab - I know that signing a player can be an arduous process but when there is so much money involved it seems a bit unprofessional signing players five minutes before the window closes. I mean they've had a whole month.
Also Tottenham are in trouble with the FA for showing the replay of Ronaldo's (alleged) dive over and over again on their big screens at half time on Sunday. I believe it was a bit irresponsible of them after the events in Italy.

Bobby – Panic buying is never a positive thing although I think you have to separate the last moment decision to try and sign a player, versus pursuing a player over a long period of time but running into roadblocks and tough negotiators.
I really don't know what Tottenham did in respect to the video replays, but if they did continually replay the Ronaldo “incident” at half-time then it shows a lack of common sense in my opinion.  Replaying the incident on a video board isn't going to fix anything.

On the subject of video replay - sort of - Matt Dickinson had an article in The Times about how it was a bad weekend in England for video replay enthusiasts.

Verbal97 - I'm a little confused about what's going on in Italy in terms of repercussions. This should be the straw that breaks the camel's back and if it happened in England, the UEFA and FIFA powers that be would be going nuts. A small set of English fans (ok, Liverpool fans) inadvertently caused the deaths of 39* (mostly) Juventus supporters by rushing them and causing a wall to fall down in response to the Italians throwing stuff at them. The resulting punishment was that ALL English teams were banned from Europe for 5 years and Liverpool banned an extra year. In 04/05, Roma fans threw things at the referee during a Champions' League game. Resulting punishment was 3 games in front of an empty stadium. That same season, Inter fans threw flares onto the field during the CL quarterfinal against Milan, even striking a player (Dida). The resulting punishment was 3 games in front of an empty stadium. It seems that the punishment now that a policeman has died should be extreme and severe, but from the conflicting reports I've been reading, it doesn't seem that it will be likely. So, I really have two questions. First, what, in reality, is going on? And second, why is there a double standard depending on what country these things happen in (or am I mis-perceiving this)?

Post-script I stand corrected on the numbers (I've edited my comment to reflect this)...However, it seems to me that Italy is descending down a slippery slope and it needs to be stopped, using things like Heysel as a history lesson as to what can happen down the line. That said, I stand by my double standard comment, in that if something like this happened in England today, a swift, severe punishment from UEFA would likely follow, even though the English game has been cleaned up considerably whereas Italy now is a complete disaster and not likely going to get severe penalties.

Bobby – I don't think the Italian situation at the moment comes close to what was happening in England, and in Europe in the 70s and 80s. During that time, it was week after week, year after year, it was never ending. I don't agree that if there was a similar incident in England, that UEFA would issue a severe punishment.  Domestically, it doesn't fall within their jurisdiction. UEFA get involved when European club or international competition is involved.

As a postscript - my memory might be failing me on this one - but my recollection was that the FA together with the British government of the time withdrew English teams from European competition immediately after the Heysel disaster. The suspensions from the UEFA only came after. I think that is an indication of how bad the situation actually was. 

You also have to consider that it was not until after the Hillsborough disaster - not caused by fans but by incompetent policing – and to some extent the Bradford fire that there was a real commitment to fixing things.  The issuing of the Taylor Report was critical, and only after the report were English football grounds brought up to a modern standard.