FIFA U20 Update: Not Your Usual Suspects.

The kiddie quarterfinals have arrived and, although Germany, Italy and Brazil have again found their way into the quarters of a major tournament, the rest of the participants hardly reads like a who’s who of international football. In fact this is something of a who ain’t in big footballing terms – the matchup between Costa Rica and United Arab Emirates says it all, really. Is this a reflection of the participants at a personnel level? Quite possibly, but that does set up the perfect opportunity for a tournament rife with Cinderellas.

And it didn’t stop the gods from setting up a finger-linkin’ match between Brazil and Germany.

The hosts (Egypt) are out. The young Spaniards are out. Nigeria, a typical stalwart at these levels, are out. Even upstarts Paraguay, both at youth and senior levels, have found themselves on the transatlantic flight back home.

The quarterfinal bracket reads like such:

So while being great at senior level doesn’t necessarily translate to the senior stage and vice-versa, it would appear the lack of big names at the tournaments has translated to a lack of big names in the quarters.

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Brazil, predictably, put in a dandy of an individual attacking performance in the Uruguayan box, and the boys from the country south really never had a chance.

This is what you’d expect of Brazilian technique and attacking know-how – nothing more, nothing less.

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Bjorn Kopplin wins hero status for the Round of 16 with two goals and an assist in a 3-2 victory, with the winner coming in the 92nd on the counter down to ten men.

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The means of result, penalties, in seeing Hungary over the Czech Republic were pedestrian; Mate Kiss was not.

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The quarters kick off tomorrow with streaming available here.

Korea Republic-Ghana, Suez, Friday 9 October, 16.30 (local)
Italy-Hungary, Suez, Friday 9 October, 20.00 (local)
Brazil-Germany, Cairo, Saturday, 10 October, 16.30 (local)
UAE-Costa Rica, Cairo, Saturday, 10 October, 20.00 (local)

For more videos check out 101 Great Goals (as always, the suppliers of these goals).

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