PREVIEWS

30/05/05 - FIFA World Youth Championship

The fifteenth FIFA World Youth Championship takes place in the Netherlands from the 10th June to the 2nd July 2005. This biannual tournament is for players in the Under-20 age group (those born on or after the 1st of January 1985) and will be played at six venues around Holland. The format remains unchanged with six groups of four teams, the top two in each group progressing to the knock-out phase. The opening game between Benin and Australia is in Kerkrade and the final will take place in Utrecht. There are seven teams from Europe, four from South America, four from Africa, four from Asia, four from North & Central America and one from Oceania.

Holders Brazil will once again be among the favourites to capture the trophy, which they have won four times previously - a record they share with neighbours Argentina. The Argentines have won three of the last five editions of this tournament and will be sure to bring a strong squad once again. South American countries have a reputation for taking this competition very seriously so you can expect Chile and Colombia to put on a strong showing as well.

Two years ago the Northern American teams made a big impression on the tournament with both the USA and Canada reaching the quarter finals but going out after extra time. They are both back this time around, along with Honduras and Panama. The USA will hope that 16-year-old superstar Freddy Adu, in his second finals appearance, will be able to live up to his already hefty reputation. Adu was something of a bit-part player last time around, but will be expected to shine after a season of experience on Major League Soccer.

The African nations have made huge advances in youth tournaments over the past ten years although none has yet won this competition. Nigeria made the final in 1989 and will hope to challenge once again, as will Morocco and Egypt. Morocco have yet to make much of an impression at this level, but Egypt did manage third place in Argentina in 2001. The Asian teams put in a good show in the United Arab Emirates two years ago, with both Japan and the hosts UAE reaching the quarter finals and South Korea reaching the second round. Japan, who were runners up in 1999 are back again, as are the Koreans for the ninth time. They are joined by China and surprise package Syria.

Australia again qualified easily and should be capable of mounting a decent challenge in the finals. They reached the last eight last time around and will be making their twelfth finals appearance in all, having been semi-finalists on two occasions. They find themselves in Group A alongside hosts the Netherlands, who have never won this tournament despite the constant stream of talented young players they seem to produce. This could be their best chance ever and 18-year-old striker Ryan Babel will carry their main hopes. He has broken into the Ajax first team this season.

The other European qualifiers are Germany (winners in 1981), Spain (winners in 1999), the Ukraine, Italy, Turkey and Switzerland. Much will depend on whether or not they can get their best players released from their club sides, but the conditions in Holland will certainly suit the European contenders much more than in recent years when the tournament has tended to be staged in sweltering sub-tropical countries. Only Spain made it past the second round in the UAE two years ago, and although they got to the final, the European showing was disappointing. Expect to see a marked improvement.

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