Ashley, did you watch the Aus-Costa Rica game? I'd love a report if you get time mate.

Yes, I just did with friends...

Report in the next 15 minutes...

LOL, really? Wonder why they'd put that in the boxscore? And then not mention that he's not a player. I guess I need to study my U-20 German players more closely...

Alright, I watched the game. I wish I hadn't. The final result was Costa Rica 3 - 0 Australia.

Australia made two changes in terms of personel to the squad to take on Costa Rica. McGowan received a red card after 86 minutes or so vs the Czech Republic and because of this he was ineligible for this game. Aaron Mooy of Bolton Wanderers in England took his place. However, Mooy is a central midfielder usually, so Ben Kantarovski moved from CM to CB for the match alongside DeVere. As well as that we changed the striker from Newcastle Jets forward Jason Hoffman to Newcastle Jets forward Sean Rooney. So we lined up...

----------------------Bouzanis------------------------

--Mullen-------DeVere--------Kantarovski-----Jurman--

----------Holland------Nicholls-----Mooy---------------

---Danning--------------------------------Oar---------

-----------------------Rooney-------------------------

During the game itself all of Holland, Nicholls and Mooy interchanged between being two slightly defensive oriented midfielders and the true "#10" so to speak just in behind Rooney.

First 10 minutes of the game was all Australia. Mooy looked pretty lively and even Nicholls managed to string together a pass or two. Despite this dominance in possession, we barely strung together a really good chance. Funnily enough, the commentators mentioned that Australia had a big advantage at the set piece, with a decent advantage in height over the Costa Ricans, which to an extent was true, however, it would be the Ticos that scored first, from a set piece.

Costa Rica won a set piece roughly 30 yards out from goal. For some reason I dont know exactly why, we had about 6 players in the wall Anyway, they played a ball kind of short to the top of the box, where one of their players managed to turn and get away a shot to the top corner where the spiders live, not that unlike the goal that Tim Cahill scored vs Japan, the second one. With that it was 1-0 and all the work was to be done.

It stayed that way until halftime, with Costa Rica beginning to get more of the ball and certainly the more dangerous team in the front third. Our problems were within the fact that all of Nicholls, Holland and Mooy were interchanging as the #10, which meant that too often Rooney was left isolated against two or three defenders, which was never going to work.

For the second half we made a substitution in Grant for Mullen at fullback. This was a bit weird IMO. While Mullen had been pretty average, I thought we needed to save the subs to get the attacking players in Elasi, Hoffman and Minniecon on IMO for the likes of Nicholls and Danning. Nevertheless, the type for type swap was made.

Second half we started poorly. Again, we had the ball, but were stuck in an imaginary box between our defensive box and just in front of the halfway line. So often we passed the ball between DeVere and Kantarovski aimlessly, DeVere in particular almost refused at times to make a pass that wasnt to Kantarovski. This put a lot of pressure of the 17 year old, but he handled it excellently. I hope a lot of big club scouts were watching this kid, he will be an absolute superstar for a big club in 4 years time. Bookmark it...

Early into the second half, maybe 10 minutes in Minniecon came onto the field to replace the tiring Oar, who had played his heart out for 90 minutes on the wing against the Czechs and today. Early on Minniecon looked very dangerous, had that yard of pace that Oar didnt, or had lost over the gametime, and looked like he could be the spark. However, it was not to be rather sadly...

About 8 minutes after he came onto the field he made a run down the right of the defence against the Costa Rican fullback which eventually resulted in a goal kick. As both players chased the ball until it went out of bounds Minniecon ended up slightly bumping into the Costa Rican, sending both players to the ground. The Costa Rican bloke deliberately wrapped his legs around Minniecon to an extent, making it tough for him to get back to his feet, and Minniecon pushed with his feet to get the Costa Rican off him. Unfortunately he has pushed out with his studs which have narrowly grazed the back of the Costa Rican player, who has milked it for all it was worth in front of the referee... Straight red card for Minniecon, gg World Cup...

We actually really pushed back at the Costa Ricans after this, as we kind of had too. We dominated possession for the next 20 minutes, and the Costa Ricans just held us up and we couldnt find a breakthrough. Elasi came on as our final replacement for Danning and we still couldnt get the breakthrough. Eventually after a header on goal from Holland, Costa Rica made a fast break with a long ball from the goalie (who for the record was a bit of a nutcase in coming out of goal) which DeVere lobbed over the advancing Bouzanis for an own goal. 2-0 Costa Rica and game...

We tried hard, but down a player (two if you count the fact that Nicholls played 90 minutes) we werent good enough and Costa Rica got a third late on to seal the points...

This effectively seals the tournament for Australia, though not if you listen to the commentator and studio analysts, who talked long after the game about how we could still make the Round of 16, which is soooo LOL it isnt funny. To do that ASSUMING THAT BRAZIL BEAT CZECH REPUBLIC BY ONE GOAL

1) Not have Czech Republic and Costa Rica draw the next game.
2) Hope three points is enough to be one of the best 3rd place teams
3) Make up a goal difference of about 2 against Costa Rica and 4 vs Czech Republic
4) Minor technicality here, beat Brazil...

So yeah, a very poor result for both this match and the tournament as a whole. However, I remain confident that some players from this group can become solid players in the future, in particular probably Kantarovski and Holland in the main Socceroos team, as well of the likes of Danning, Minniecon, Bouzanis and Rooney in the future....

Oh and for lulz...

Young talented striker Sean Rooney




Young talented striker Wayne Rooney



Cliffs notes...

[x] Costa Rica 3 - 0 Australia
[x] Australia can mathematically still make the next round
[ ] Australia can realistically make the next round
[x] Ben Kantarovski will be a star
[ ] Mitch Nicholls, Daniel Mullen and Jurman will be stars

Great report! Didn't get to watch it myself but managed to catch a half-time sneak of Fossie ranting about technique as usual.

Glad to see Kantarovski's living up to billings... as always, the quality of the wogs will make or break our future. Although with Australia's popl. projected at 40mil by 2045 maybe we won't need them... fingers crossed.

Hungary - South Africa 4-0, after Honduras - Hungary 3-0

This U20 tournaments are crazy.

You have to expect much more variance with 20 yo kids.

Also, it was really weird to see Peri on sportscenter.

Yup, crazy results, variance, we got it all...

Great writeup on this match already posted earlier. Look up, read it, love it. Tough game for the Aussies, they're all but out now with Brazil up next. But chip and a chair, right...?

Brazil held, in only the 2nd scoreless draw of the tournament, I believe. Would like to have more to say about this, but didn't see it, and no stats. Brazil have basically already advanced, save for a massive loss to Australia in the final group game. Czech Republic have a slim 1 point lead on Costa Rica, going into their matchup to end this phase.

Decisive win for the Hungarians. They get some much needed points, heading into their final game. South Africa struggling in last place.

Seems like a shocking result, but what do I know? UAE jump into 1st place in the group, and have a good shot at advancing. Honduras could have gone through with a better result here, but now they'll need a good performance in their last match vs South Africa.

Upcoming Fixtures:

Venezuela v Spain

- A matchup between two teams who are home and cool with 6 points already.

Tahiti v Nigeria

- Nigeria looking for 3 points, and a big scoreline to get them through to the next round as one of the best 3rd place teams.

Trinidad & Tobago v Paraguay

- Paraguay are tied for 1st in the group, they can advance with a win over T&T who have 0 points thus far.

Italy v Egypt

- The host Egyptian team will be looking for a victory over Italy. They sit just 1 point back, a draw might end up being enough, but a win will leave no question. This should be the match of the day.

Nigeria won 5-0 giving them a goal differential of +2. This should be enough to advance as it would take several results not going their way in order for them to be eliminated. Nigeria only need to finish better than two other third place teams and one of those is almost certain to come from Group D, either Uzbekistan or England. If you spend a couple minutes looking at the tables you can see that it is likely that one of these groups will produce a worse third place team.

It'll be quite unlucky for a group winner to draw Nigeria in the round of 16, I still think they are dangerous.

Whoops, fell behind on this...

Thursday:

Egypt wins and moves into 1st in the group. Italy falls to 3rd, but will still advance (currently the best 3rd place team).

Paraguay taking no chances, earning the draw which gets them through.

Nigeria gets the big win they need, and are now the 2nd best 3rd place team, and should advance (as noted in the post above this).

Spain wins in the battle for 1st in the group. Both teams advance, but Spain looking like one of the favourites to win the whole thing.

Friday:

Germany advance as the 1st place team, and more importantly, Cameroon are eliminated.

Korea are through in 2nd place, but the United States are still alive. They finished tied with Cameroon, but are one better in goal difference, so could get through as the 3rd place team. Currently the 3rd best team as far as those qualifiers go. Shades of the Confederation's Cup...?

Both teams go through on 7 points. I was going to say this was a meaningless match, but after looking at it, the winner gets a 3rd place team in the knockout stages, and the loser gets Brazil. Uruguay were behind in GD, and probably really wanted a win here.

England go out with a whimper, last place in the group, behind even Uzbekistan.

Today's Fixtures:

Australia v Brazil
- Australia need a win, and a lot of help to go through.

Costa Rica v Czech Republic
- Both team will want the win, but a draw will probably be good enough for each of them to advance. The United States need Costa Rica to get hammered in this match to stay alive (if my understanding of how this works is correct).

Hungary v United Arab Emirates
- UAE currently sitting in 1st, another match where both will want a win, but a draw will surely do the trick.

South Africa v Honduras
- South Africa need a win to stay alive, while any points will probably be good enough for Honduras.

Knockout stages are almost upon us. They start on Sunday, one match decided with Paraguay taking on Korea, Spain still waiting for their victim, I mean opponent (probably Italy, I think).

Australia vs Brazil starts very shortly...

Australia 7 - 0 Brazil and we ship the second round...

One time???

So far today

South Africa 2 - 0 Honduras

Hungary 2 - 0 UAE

What this means is that Honduras, after demolishing Hungary 3-0 in the first game, are out of the tournament in 4th of the group. Hungary get first and the UAE gets second, where as South Africa have to wait to see whether they get a lucky 3rd place finish...

Knockout round so far...

Paraguay
Korea

Ghana
South Africa

Spain
Italy

Hungary
Runners Up E (Czech likely)

Winners E (Brazil)
Uruguay

Germany
Nigeria

Venezuela
UAE

Egypt
3rd E or C (Costa Rica or USA)

South Africa are in. It is now between the US and the third place team in Group E for the final spot.

The US need Australia to not win by more than 1 goal and for Costa Rica to lose 1-0 or by two or more goals (a 2-1 defeat would leave both sides level).

Currently at the moment...

Australia 1-0 Brazil
Costa Rica 0 -1 Czechs...

If the Czechs can win their match, we would need to win by 2 to go through at the expense of the USA...

Sorry Americans but Im using my one time here...

Goal, Brazil

Too much time and space in the box for the brazilain forward, who scores easily past Redmayne...


BBBoooo

Spain, one of the heavy favorites, are out following a 3-1 defeat to Italy. Undoubtedly this match was influenced by one of the Spanish players seeing red in the first half. Reminds me of Croatia-Germany from France 98.

I would say Brazil have to be favorites now, with honorable mention to Ghana, Germany, Italy and Uruguay (and not ruling out Nigeria).

Round of 16:

As mentioned above, Spain suffered a straight red card midway through the 1st half, and Italy was able to take advantage of their superior numbers. A good tournament for them, down in flames. Up until Euro 08, it seemed like this is the way tournaments went for both these nations.

Korea with an impressive looking win over Paraguay. Turning point no doubt was the goal and red card at the hour mark.

Today's Fixtures:

Ghana v South Africa
- Ghana should be favourites, had some impressive results in group play. South Africa barely squeaked into the knockout stages, so they have their work cut out for them.

Egypt v Costa Rica
- Costa Rica is another team in tough, got in as the worst team to advance, now up against the tournament hosts.

Hungary v Czech Republic
- This should be a good match. Czech Republic were level with Brazil on points in group play, while Hungary won their group, albeit a weak one.

Results from today...

Ghana 2 - 1 South Africa. Game went to extra time...

Currently being played at the moment...

Egypt 0 - 1 Costa Rica

Hungary 1 - 1 Czech Republic

In the first half...

korea is looking really impressive, korea's present u-20 and youth squad will become much better than today's senior squad... that is for sure.

Big news today is that Egpyt is out, 2-0 to Costa Rica...

Hosts goneski just like that...

Good old fashion variance...

Hungary won after penalties against Czech Republic.

YEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH !

Ghana needs extra time, but prevail in the end. Late sending off, hopefully that wasn't a key player that they'll miss next match. They will play Korea in the quarterfinals.

Also as noted above, crazy result with the worst team to advance to the knockout stages defeated the tournament hosts.

Hungary equalize in extra time, then win on penalties. Good win against a strong looking Czech team. They now face Italy, in another tough matchup.

Tomorrow's Fixtures:

Brazil v Uruguay
- South America showdown, two teams who were impressive in group play

Venezuela v United Arab Emirates
- Two 2nd place teams square off, with the winner taking on Costa Rica

Germany v Nigeria
- Germany should be favourites in this one, but this tournament has shown us to take nothing for granted. The winner plays the winner of Brazil/Uruguay.

yeah just look at portugal

and how the **** do you get away with your avatar lol?

I don't think success at this tournament will have much influence on future success at the senior level.

Firstly, many top players from European nations are missing. Take a look at England for example, that was probably not even their second-tier team they fielded at this tournament.

More importantly, this tournament represents a very narrow band in terms of age. At the senior level, players are spread out between 18 and 34 (roughly speaking), so only the very best players at this tournament (if theoretically the best players were even available) will ever make any impact for the national team. Therefore, I think it's more significant to look at the top 3-5 players for each side, as well as how those players are performing at the club level, to try and predict future success.

So ya, youth tournaments are fun and can showcase a handful of future stars, but you can't look at team success and draw the conclusion that this will affect the senior national team significantly in five years.

Put another way, imagine this extreme example.

Country A has 3 stars on its youth team every U-20 World Cup, but the rest of the players on its roster are worthless.

Country B has 23 solid players on its roster every youth World Cup, but none are particular stand-outs.

Which country would have the best U-20 team? I would say Country B, as football is a team sport, and the 3 star players Country A has will be easily outweighed by the superior talent from every other player on Country B.

Which country would have the best senior national team? This would easily be Country A, as its team will a compilation of the three stars it produces every couple years. The skill of the other players on the youth teams is irrelevant, as they will just be thrown away.

This example isn't very realistic, but it just demonstrates that youth team success does not automatically lead to senior national team success. For every Cesc Fabregas and Lionel Messi there are ~10 players who will never wear the national colors again after their youth careers are over, so it's better to just focus on the stars.