Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Egypt U-20 World Cup preview

The 2009 U-20 FIFA World Cup is about to start in Egypt. This table shows the history of the tournament that started in 1977 when the USSR won the first tournament:

Tunisia 1977

USSR

Mexico

Brazil

Uruguay

Japan 1979

Argentina

USSRUruguayPoland

Australia 1981

West Germany

Qatar

Romania

England

Mexico 1983

Brazil

Argentina

Poland

South Corea

USSR 1985

Brazil

Spain

Nigeria

USSR

Chile 1987

Yugoslavia

West Germany

East Germany

Chile

Saudi Arabia 1989

Portugal

Nigeria

Brazil

USA

Portugal 1991

Portugal

Brazil

USSR

Australia

Australia 1993

Brazil

Ghana

England

Australia

Qatar 1995

Argentina

Brazil

Portugal

Spain

Malaysia 1997

ArgentinaUruguayIrelandGhana

Nigeria 1999

SpainJapanMaliUruguay

Argentina 2001

ArgentinaGhanaEgyptParaguay

United Arab Emirates 2003

BrazilSpainColombiaArgentina

Netherlands 2005

ArgentinaNigeriaBrazilMorocco

Canada 2007

ArgentinaCzech RepublicChileAustria

Egypt 2009


As can be seen, the South American giants of Brazil and Argentina have been the most awesome countries, with the latter winning the last two tournaments. However, disappointingly, Argentina will not be able to defend their title, as they didn't qualify, and Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela (who sensationally qualified for the first time ever) will have to carry the South American flags.
It is very difficult to predict these tournaments, but one always should look for the hosts, Egypt, who are grouped with Italy, Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago. Other African sides, who traditionally have been strong but never won the tournament (as opposed to the u-17) include Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and South Africa, while some of the European sides with good traditions in the tournament include Spain (in an interesting group with Venezuela, Nigeria and Tahiti), the Czech Republic (grouped with Brazil, Australia and Costa Rica) and Germany.
All in all, a very interesting tournament for the football stars of tomorrow.

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