OTTAWA—The FIFA U-20 World Cup has given us a few surprises so far, but two things that haven't surprised anyone is the incredible fan interest and passion for 'football' of the Argentinean fans.
Play began last Saturday in Montreal with Poland pulling off a monumental 1-0 upset against Brazil with a superb free kick from Grzegorz Krychowiak. The U.S. brought the Poles back down to Earth with another surprising result—a 6–1 massacre in which Freddy Adu scored a hat-trick on Tuesday night.
American soccer fans will now probably start paying closer attention to their U-20 team as their senior national team floundered in the Copa America.
In Ottawa, attending two Argentina matches gave me a taste of a mini 'La Bombanera', home to Argentina's Boca Juniors, with rhythmic drumming, singing and whistle-blowing. Argentinean fans must have been disappointed last Saturday night despite all their efforts to cheer on their heroes as the Czech Republic held on for the scoreless draw.
After the draw with the Czechs, Argentina coach Hugo Tocalli was asked about the artificial turf surface. He responded: "I don't want to give excuses…[but] the surface is not appropriate for U-20. It's better for U-17."
Czech coach Miroslav Soukup stated: "We finished 0–0 with a little bit of luck. We're very happy the game is over, happy we started off on the right foot. Argentina doesn't lose very often."
Argentina bounced back big time Tuesday, destroying Panama 6-0. The win was Argentina's after an explosive seven-minute period in the first half in which they scored four goals.
On Canada's 140th birthday, Chile did all the celebrating as they totally demolished Canada 3–0. Chile's technical superiority was evident from the start. For Canada, it is possible with this tournament format to recover from such a disaster because four out of the six third-place teams move on to the next round.
On Canada Day, FIFA and the local organizing committee announced that spectator attendance had surpassed the one million mark. FIFA Vice President Jack Warner said, "What we are seeing here is beyond our wildest expectations."
Argentina
Franco Predazzi of the Diario Deportivo Ole in Buenos Aires, Argentina, gave The Epoch Times the scoop on his country.
"A lot of Argentineans emigrated to Toronto and Montreal 20 and 30 years ago. They'll just buy tickets [to the soccer match] and then find a way to get here," he said when asked to explain the rabid fan support.
"There is a lot of pressure on this team since it is better than the team that won in Holland two years ago. That team was [Lionel] Messi and 10 other guys. All the players on this team are starters for their club teams. This team has Zarate, Aguero, and Banega [of Boca Juniors]."
Pedrazzi suggested that South America has been stronger than Europe at the U-20 level in recent times. "To qualify for this tournament, Argentina made it in the last minute of the last [qualifying] game. The four South American teams were very close. Colombia is a very good team and they're out."
Other teams looking good so far include Portugal and Mexico. The Portuguese were clearly superior to New Zealand in a 2–0 win while Mexico defeated Gambia 3–0 in a game where they displayed well-coordinated play and technical talent.
Round-robin play concludes this weekend and the round of 16 begins next Wednesday, July 11, after two days of much-deserved rest.
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