Here are my thoughts so far from watching parts of the first six days of matches from the U20 soccer tournament. First, I'll talk about the Canada vs. Chile game and then I'll move on to include short notes on other teams I've seen play.
In their match against Chile, Canada was thoroughly, thoroughly outplayed. It wasn't a 'possession is almost even, they scored a good goal, got a lucky break and scored a third when Canada was pressing to tie it up' game. It was a 'they thoroughly dominated and deserved to win 3-0' game. While Chile's first goal was a bit lucky (a defender stopped a cross-crease pass with a stretched boot, but he was unable to keep his balance and fell, so the ball sat there as a Chilean pounced on it and blasted in past a helpless Begovic), the possession was probably about 70-30 in Chile's favour and Canada didn't manage a shot until the second half. It was a pathetic effort, in many ways.
First, the good news. Canada isn't that bad. Rag on Canadian soccer all you want, the U20 team isn't that bad. It qualified for the 2003 and 2005 U20 World Cups (and likely more, but going back any further is a bit pointless) and made the quarterfinals of the 2003 tournament, losing to Brazil. Canadian youth soccer has made strides (it'd be a whole lot better with Jonathan de Guzman, but that's another story) and while its not at the level of Argentina, Brazil and other world class powers, we're not minnows, either. I think it was a combination of a good Chilean team and a poor performance by Canada, which was exacerbated by the nerves of their opening match in the U20 World Cup on home soil. For example, David Edgar couldn't complete straight passes to his midfielders and he has played in the Premiership. That can't be the normal standard of most of the players on this team.
Chile was also the toughest team in this group. I have no idea how they only finished fourth in South American qualifying if they regularly play like that. Basically every player on the pitch was very technically skilled. All of them, even the defenders, were skilled dribblers who seemed equally adept at using both feet. Their passes were fast and crisp and if three Canadian players had two of them boxed near the sideline of the pitch, within fifteen seconds suddenly the two Chileans would be going down the line with only one Canadian defending and two running to catch up. And, worryingly for Canada, they did all of this without Alexis Sanchez, who is their best player. He was suspended, but is supposed to be one of the players to watch in this tournament. Nevertheless, Mathias Vidangossy made up for his absence. This Villareal youth was clearly the best player on the pitch. Chilean players dove (and Canadians never did, as far as I recall – although that may be a product of them almost never having the ball) and they showboated (towards the end a couple of the guys made dribbling plays that were clearly not going to go anywhere and not designed to make any forward progress, but were simply to show off what they could do), but there might be a bright future for soccer in Chile. That makes me feel good as Chile is my second favourite South American soccer nation, behind only Paraguay.
Now, onto the bad news for Canada. They didn't look very good. Up front, they started with Andrea Lombardo and Simeon Jackson at forward, but the latter basically played as a midfielder, so practically speaking it was only Lombardo as a forward. Their offensive plan for the whole first half seemed to be get the ball to Lombardo, which was clearly not working ten minutes into the game, yet they continued to try it for the next thirty-five and early into the second half, as well. Despite having several inches on all of Chile's defenders, I don't recall once (maybe it happened once or twice, but on the vast majority it did not) where Lombardo outjumped them for goal kicks or balls played into the center of the pitch. The defenders would simply jump up behind him, get height on him and head the ball to a teammate. A few times midfielders tried to play the ball down the wing for Lombardo to run onto, but he was nearly always beaten there by quicker Chilean defenders. Furthermore, the rare times he did get the ball at his feet, he seemed lost. That was likely a function of having no one else up front, but he looked clumsy and always had the ball taken away by the nearest defender. Not once did he cleanly beat a defender with a dribble. He looked ineffective, at best, and inept, at worst. Maybe his style of play is better suited to another type of team, but personally I'd seriously think about not starting him tomorrow.
Begovic played as well as could be expected in net. He had no chance on two of the goals and couldn't have done much on the third. However, his insistance on grand goal kicks should have been addressed by the coach halfway through the half. Canada was playing into the wind the first half, so his goal kicks would get caught in the wind and come down around the center line, every single time. When you add in the fact Lombardo was being consistently outjumped for the ball, 90% of the time he got the ball (no exaggeration), it would wind up with Chile taking possession of the ball at center pitch about 15 seconds later. This went on for the entire first half. Only in the second half, and only once then, did Begovic decide that it might be a good idea to occasionally roll or kick a pass to defenders and try to develop a play that way. I'm not sure about Dale Mitchell's game plan and coaching ability, considering the fact that this strategy and Lombardo's complete ineffectiveness continued into the second half, when me, my dad and my brother all independently arrive at the same conclusion about 15 to 20 minutes into the match.
For some reason, it wasn't until the middle of the second half when Canada began trying to feed balls forward to Jaime Peters, the speedy forward from Ipswich Town. Peters is quick and skilled and was able to get around a Chilean defender a couple of times, but unfortunately help usually arrived and stopped Peters before a real chance developed. Also looking impressive was Alex Elliott, who came on to replace Lombardo up front. He shows signs of life and managed one strong shot on net, albeit one that was straight at Chile's keeper. I'd definitely start him next game, if not in place of Lombardo in place of the other forward. Canada certainly needs more presence up front. They need two forwards playing forward, not one playing midfield and they need to use Peters more on the wing, as he is one of their most dangerous threats.
Perhaps most troubling was the fact Canada lacked any presence in midfield. There was no midfield general. Nobody to direct play or start an attack. Nobody to create rushes, make crosses or be a focal starting point for the offence. Peters only came to life in the second half and seems best deployed as an offensive threat. Captain Will Johnson was invisible for the match and I can hardly recall Christian Nunez touching the ball until the last ten minutes. This could be what haunts the team against Austria and Congo, because I don't foresee good results if they play another game of defend and feed Lombardo.
Canada is also behind the 8-ball in that their goal deficit is at -3. If they hope to finish with a mediocre point total and get through on goal difference they might be disappointed. Before the tournament I thought a realistic goal was a quarterfinal berth. It still might be, but Canada will face a tougher opponent in the second round if they finish 3rd in the group. At the very least they need to finish second. And at the very very least, they need to get through to the second round. If the United Arab Emirates could in 2005 and Canada can’t, that’s just embarrassing.
In summary, my solutions for the next game:
1. Use Peters more.
2. Start Elliott at forward, probably instead of Simeon Jackson. But don’t be afraid to take Lombardo out if he’s ineffective. And use Peters more.
3. Have Johnson or Nunez take control of the midfield.
4. Stop having Begovic kick it blindly into a clump of players.
5. Try to get more corners and crosses. Lombardo does have a height advantage and Edgar and Marcus Haber are both also quite tall.
And now for thoughts on some of the other teams...
North Korea
They looked physically fit and played better than I expected against the Czechs. Their players all looked at least of average height and weight. They don’t look malnourished...
What? Too soon?
Uruguay
They dominated possession against Jordan, but failed to score as often as they should have. Weakest goaltending I’ve seen in the tournament.
Czech Republic
Some players have this “stylish” Euro Mohawk haircut with the hawk dyed blonde. Very skilled players, but like other Eastern European teams they don’t seem to play together as well as they should. Should have beaten North Korea, but slumped towards the end of the match. Weren’t the sum of their parts. However, they’ve set themselves up well for qualification in the second round as a win against Panama will get them through and a tie should.
USA
I was beginning to think Freddy Adu was a product of American hype as I heard much more of him when he was a 14-year-old child prodigy than I have since he started playing in the MLS or internationals. However, Adu dominated the USA’s match against Poland, scoring a hat trick. The game wasn’t on TV, but from the highlights I saw Adu was fantastic. This is the Freddy Adu, still only 16, that attracted worldwide recognition at 13.
Jordan
Not nearly as overmatched as I thought they’d be. Qualified with a huge upset over China in the Asian qualifying tournament, but held their own against Zambia and Uruguay. Uruguay had the majority of possession and Jordan hit the post, the crossbar and had one partial breakaway in the dying minutes. They were the better team in the second half and overall were far better against Uruguay than Canada was against Chile. A couple of players, I think Adnan Hasan and Abdallah Salim, have quite a lot of pace. Their coach, Jan Poulsen, coached Denmark to their shocking victory in the European Championship in 1992.
Scotland
Their central defender, Scott Cuthbert of Celtic, made a brutal error that led to Japan’s first goal in the opening match. Another defender, Andrew Cave-Brown, is on the Norwich City youth team and shall start playing on the first team soon.
Nigeria
Typical Nigerian soccer. Exciting. Skilled. Undisciplined. They’re looking stronger defensively than some other Nigerian teams I’ve seen, but don’t work as well as a team as they should. The offensive passing is weak, but the players are able to do quite well one-on-one and they always look like they’re on the verge of creating something. Hard to tell for sure, but goalkeeping looks mediocre at best. Has Nigeria ever produced a great goalie? They’re currently beating Scotland at the half. If they hold on for the win they’ll finish first or second in Group F. They’re all but assured a spot in the second round even with a tie, but a win would ensure that the earliest Nigeria would play in Toronto is the semi-finals. If they make it that far, I’m going to do my best to be there.
John Helm
Fantastic British commentator. Great to listen to, as usual. I could listen to this man announce soccer forever.
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