2023 U-20 World Cup

[Gotham Gator]

It's been an interesting tournament so far.

The USA had the better of play against Ecuador and finally nabbed a late goal to win 1-0. Then, the Americans beat Fiji 3-0 to ensure advancement to the next round. Today, the USA play Slovakia at 2pm. A tie or a win, and they will top the group.

Meanwhile, France has lost its first two games and is last in its group. 28 French players had their call-ups refused by their clubs, and it shows.

 

[Marito]

It's been an interesting tournament so far.

The USA had the better of play against Ecuador and finally nabbed a late goal to win 1-0. Then, the Americans beat Fiji 3-0 to ensure advancement to the next round. Today, the USA play Slovakia at 2pm. A tie or a win, and they will top the group.

Meanwhile, France has lost its first two games and is last in its group. 28 French players had their call-ups refused by their clubs, and it shows.

I guess with the very congested calendar for top players and prospects, and with evermore club competitions, FIFA cannot afford to make U20 WC and Olympics relevant the way they used to. It's sad because U20 World Cups sometimes were coming out parties for the Messis of the world. OTOH, because of the MLS calendar, the US is in a good position in terms of player availability compared to other countries, so...

 

[mgarbowski]

This is the tournament that the Chicago Fire refused to allow a couple of US U20 players to play. They took a lot of grief for it, including from Jim Curtin. The Union released 3 players. Good for them. The Union 3 have a combined 643 minutes played this year. That comes to an average of 16 minutes per game for the 3 of them combined, or about 5.5 minutes each. One of them has played zero minutes.
Meanwhile, the Fire players who would have gone are ranked 1st and 4th on the Fire for minutes played, with 1,999 combined minutes and an average of 77 minutes per game. Each. One is their starting goalkeeper who stepped up after the Fire sold the starting US U20 keeper, so if he went he'd just be sitting on the bench. The other is ranked second on the team for total contributions on the ASA Goals Added metric.
The Fire are 4 points away from a playoff spot. The Union are 6 points above being below the line.

STFU Jim Curtin.

I've no doubt the 2 Fire players wanted to go. I believe they both said as much. That's a shame, but FIFA has a choice. It can play youth tournaments during the adult windows which would reduce both attention and money, or add to the disruption to club play by making youth windows mandatory releases, or it can do what it does. These are the conditions everyone has to deal with and clubs have every right to do what is allowed in the rules.
STFU Jim Curtin.
Feel free to repost this in the Union game thread.

 

[Gotham Gator]

I am just going to leave this one here.

Israel U-20 vs Brazil U-20 - Google Search

 

[Gotham Gator]

This was today’s quarterfinal match.

Winner of tomorrow’s match between the USA and Uruguay gets Israel.

 

[Kenny]

It's not a fluke either. In the U-19 Euros last year Israel beat France in the semis and took England to extra time in the final.

 

[moogoo]

It's not a fluke either. In the U-19 Euros last year Israel beat France in the semis and took England to extra time in the final.

curious of those squads have all the players they really want or they aren't getting them released from clubs..? but very impressive nonetheless from israel.

 

[Gotham Gator]

It's not a fluke either. In the U-19 Euros last year Israel beat France in the semis and took England to extra time in the final.

Interesting. I didn’t know that. I posted the stats because they suggest Israel didn’t just smash and grab, but went toe-to-toe with Brazil.

curious of those squads have all the players they really want or they aren't getting them released from clubs..? but very impressive nonetheless from israel.

Not sure about England. I know France had over 20 guys held back by their clubs. Heck, we had Pepi held back by a relegated club, Aaronson held back to sit on the bench in his last game, two guys miss the group stage, plus a handful from MLS. Probable also, of course, that Israel is dealing with the same.

 

[LionNYC]

I am just going to leave this one here.

View attachment 12776View attachment 12777

Israel U-20 vs Brazil U-20 - Google Search

Israel also missed two penalty kicks in the match.

 

[Gotham Gator]

Israel also missed two penalty kicks in the match.

Yes. And back-to-back of all things.

Penalty was saved, and when the taker went to shoot the rebound, he was fouled. Penalty #2 was missed.

 

[Davo15]

And USA are out guess I'm rooting for Israel now.

 

[Gotham Gator]

And USA are out guess I'm rooting for Israel now.

Yep. Boy the USA looked so much sloppier and less disciplined in that last game.