WYC News Thread (R)

[Reza]

Ok, this thread is for all the news coming out of the U-20 tournament.

Let's start with news on Canada's third opponent, Italy:

http://www.fifa.com/en/comp/index/0,2442,107224,00.html?comp=WYC&year=2005&articleid=107224

[CDN4EVR]

http://www.canadasoccer.com/eng/media/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=2212

Men's Youth (U-20) Team

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Youth Arrive in Holland

Tilburg, Netherlands – After a week long training camp in Lievin, France, Canada’s Men’s Youth (U-20) team arrived in Tilburg, Netherlands in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

On Monday evening, the team was prepared to play a Belgian Select team in a tiny village of Kain, Belgium. After an inspection of the pitch, the staff deemed the pitch too dangerous for the exhibition and held a training session instead.

Following the training session, the team traveled directly to Tilburg.

Now settled in Tilburg, the team will hold their first training session later today.

“The boys have worked hard to prepare for the tournament,” said head coach Dale Mitchell. “We are happy to be here in Holland and look forward to our first match on Sunday.”

Canada begins the tournament against Syria on Sunday, June 12th at 8:30 p.m. (local). The game will be broadcast on Rogers Sportsnet. Please visit your local listing or Sportsnet.ca for local broadcast information.

FIFA World Youth Championship

The FIFA World Youth Championship is a 24 nation and 52-match tournament featuring the best young 20-year-old players in the world. It is the second largest event staged by FIFA after the FIFA World Cup.

Canada’s most recent participation in this event occurred in December 2003 when its squad had its best ever finish, losing to eventual silver medalist Spain, on a golden goal in the quarter-finals held in the United Arab Emirates.

Please visit FIFA.com for more information on the FIFA World Youth Championship.

[DJT]

quote:Originally posted by Reza

Ok, this thread is for all the news coming out of the U-20 tournament.

I suggest restricting that to all news related to Canada and our first-round opponents. Otherwise we can end up with a whole bunch of stuff that few people care about that would be better placed in the General Discussion section.

[Free kick]

quote:Originally posted by DJT

I suggest restricting that to all news related to Canada and our first-round opponents. Otherwise we can end up with a whole bunch of stuff that few people care about that would be better placed in the General Discussion section.

I have different view. If I may. Canada is playing in this tournament therefore the tournament and its discussions involve and are related to Canada either directly or indirectly. I do not feel thats its proper to have to go to the general discussions section to discuss a match involving, say, Columbia versus Italy. Who are both in the same group as canada. Most who are only interested in following canada, will likely be interested in what happens with possible future opponents or even past opponents. Therefore it is very likely that these discussions will likely drift to discussions involving canada. Do we want that in the general discuions?

I tend to think of the general discussion section for Euro club soccer and WCQ matches after Canada is eleiminated.

I vote to keep these discussions on the Mens: Canadian National team and players page..

[matthew]

All right DJT if you feel like moving this or creating a Syria pre-game thread go to it.

This isn't really 'news'. It's more like rampant speculation and guessing because a) news about Syria is hard to find, I don't speak Arabic and c) even for Italy and Colombia where info is easier to get, I've never seen any of the players we're going to face.

Here's the Syrian roster for reference:

Coach: MARDAKYAN Kifork (SYR)

# Name, Club Date of Birth H (cm) W (kg) Pos

1 AL HOLAMI Ali

Al-Fotowa, SYR 01.01.1986 191 87 GK

2 ALDAMEN Mohammad

Al-Ittihad, SYR 25.01.1986 174 64 MF

3 ALATASI Safir

Al-Karama, SYR 11.04.1985 173 70 MF

4 SHAHROUR Salah

Al-Ittihad, SYR 02.01.1988 198 75 DF

5 AL ABDI Jalal

Al-Taliya, SYR 01.01.1986 184 75 FW

6 DAKKA Abd

Teshrin, SYR 10.01.1985 183 78 DF

7 AL HAFEZ Adnan

Al-Karama, SYR 23.04.1986 184 76 GK

8 NAHLOUS Samer

Teshrin, SYR 05.04.1985 186 78 MF

9 AL HAJ Majed

Al-Jaish, SYR 06.04.1985 172 69 FW

10 OSSI Mahmoud

Al-Horriya, SYR 25.03.1987 160 54 MF

11 SAHIWNI Bwrhan

Umayya, SYR 07.04.1986 174 69 MF

12 ALHOUSAIN Abd

Al-Horriya, SYR 15.09.1986 185 79 MF

13 KAILOUNI Meaataz

Teshrin, SYR 10.03.1985 182 71 MF

14 AL MOSTAFA Hasan

Al-Horriya, SYR 01.01.1986 183 74 DF

15 AL AITONI Hamzeh

Al-Majd, SYR 16.01.1986 181 70 DF

16 JENYAT Aatef

Al-Karama, SYR 08.05.1986 173 69 MF

17 AL KADDOUR Zakariya

Al-Ittihad, SYR 01.01.1986 176 69 DF

18 KHALAF Abdul

Al-Karama, SYR 01.01.1986 175 67 DF

19 AL HAMWI Mohammad

Al-Karama, SYR 01.01.1986 170 64 FW

20 SHAKOSH Moustafa

Teshrin, SYR 01.01.1986 189 72 GK

21 DILY HASSAN Ahmad

Barada, SYR 20.07.1985 179 73 FW

Despite everyone (everyone being FIFA and Bobby McMahon I guess) hyping their captain and primary goal scorer Majed Al Haj (9), I think Syria’s midfield seems to be the strength as three U20 mids also have full national team World Cup qualifying experience.

Aatef Jenyat (16) was a World Cup qualifying regular. He went 90 minutes in both games against Kyrgystan in addition to the home win against Tajikistan (where he picked up a yellow card). Jenyat also played 40 mins as a sub in Tajikistan and was an unused sub in their road loss to Bahrain that opened qualifying.

Meaataz Kailouni (13) is another midfielder who saw World Cup qualifying time. Kailouni made two sub appearances — 27 mins in the home win versus Tajikistan and 18 mins in the road tie with Kyrgystan. However, he got the 86th minute equalizer in the 1-1 tie with Kyrgystan that kept their qualifying hopes alive. Safir Al Atasi (3) came on for the last five minutes in the final game at home to Kyrgystan which they lost 1-0.

Syria were knocked out of contention heading into that last game. They also called in defender Hamzeh Al Aitoni (15) (assuming he’s the same person as Hamzeh Al Attoni) who did not see the pitch.

Captain Majed El Haj (9) is a forward with Al Jaish, one of the biggest clubs in Syria. He has AFC Champions League experience as his Damascus-based club finished bottom of their preliminary group with four points out of six games. He started twice and came in as a sub three times the AFC CL. He didn’t score and picked up a yellow card.

Also Al-Ittihad — who has three players on the team — were recently crowned Syrian champions.

Resports from U20 qualifying were scattered. Syria finised second in their group on goal difference to Uzbekistan and upset Iraq in the quaterfinal to qualify for the Netherlands. Iraq went down to 10 men after 30 minutes and El Haj scored 75. In the semifinal they lost to China 1-0 and in the third-place match they lost in PKs to Japan after a 1-1 draw (on a Japanese own goal). In the PK shootout, the ref deemed the Syrian keeper moved early after he stopped a PK and the Japanese player scored on the re-kick. Japan’s winning PK hit the bar and came down on the line and the Russian linesman said it was in. The Syrians had to be restrained from getting at the referee. In fact they seem a little succeptible to red cards at both youth and senior levels, but I’ve read a lot of griping about officiating from Asian fans, so maybe Syria aren’t all to blame.

Al Hafez was in goal in qualifying. Shahrour and Al Aitoni were mentioned in the back in game reports. Al Abdi and Al Haj were up top in qualifying for at least a game. Adb Al Houssain and Samer Nahlous also featured in qualifying along with Jenyat, Kailouni and Al Attasi.

To help prepare for the WYC, Syria sent their U20 team to the first Islamic Solidarity Games in Saudi Arabia. Syria drew Mali’s B team 0-0 and beat Chad 2-0. Al Haj and Al Atasi got the goals. In the quarterfinal they beat Malaysia 3-1 and then in the semi they lost to the hosts 4-0. Tough to say how good the teams they played were, but two of three Saudi goal-scorers were in the Saudi squad for the final round of AFC qualifying. Someone Saudi on bigsoccer figured they had about five ‘A’ national teamers present. Malaysia had seven players from the top two clubs fail to turn over up club v country. They then lost the third-place game 5-3 in a shootout after a 0-0 with an all-domestic Iranian team.

If anyone knows anything about these guys, feel free to add it on. I don’t know how much this team has changed since qualifying or if the guys who played for the senior team are really the dominant U20s (you’d assume so, right?). But I figured guessed at half-truths are better than nothing at all.

cheers,

matthew

[masster]

Given Italy's history of slow starts in international tournaments as well as the article posted by Reza, which makes it seem like their team is ripe for an early upset, its too bad we couldn't play Italy earlier on in the tournament.

They'll probably just be gelling by the time they play Canada, which should be the all important game for our boys.

[Guest Dave]

Seven players on Syria's roster born on Jan 1 1986? Not that I'd make unwarranted accusations, but....

Anyone remeber the Iraqi Under-35 team our U20s faced a few years ago?

[canso]

Excellent info Matthew. Now I feel I am prepared.

Bring 'em on!

[Gian-Luca]

quote:Originally posted by Dave

Seven players on Syria's roster born on Jan 1 1986? Not that I'd make unwarranted accusations, but....

Anyone remeber the Iraqi Under-35 team our U20s faced a few years ago?

Yeah, another amazing coincidence, 7 players born on the same day!

And its probably a typo - they probably meant to say Jan 1 1985.....

[Winnipeg Fury]

quote:Originally posted by Dave

Seven players on Syria's roster born on Jan 1 1986? Not that I'd make unwarranted accusations, but....

Anyone remeber the Iraqi Under-35 team our U20s faced a few years ago?

What a bloody joke !

[matthew]

quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

Good eyes. I hadn't noticed. There's three Iraqi guys at work, all their birthdays are 'Jan. 1.' The one I'm friendliest with doesn't know how old he is exactly and doesn't know when his birthday is (no birth certificate). He said that's not that uncommon. AFC is supposed to be doing age testing for youth tourneys with bone x-rays (Thailand, Oman, Iran and Bangladesh were hit with bans and fines at the U16 level by AFC).

The Italian defence looks quite sound, but this is a really explosive Colombian side. I agree Italy does traditionally start slow and it sounds like they're still coming together. I was curious what would happen if they get hammered in their opening game.

FWIW Italy is installed as favourites according to the bettors. Colombia (12-1 I think) and US (51-1) have really nice odds. We're 51-1 as well. Syria is the second longest of all of the long shots.

cheers,

matthew

[Guest Dave]

quote:Good eyes. I hadn't noticed. There's three Iraqi guys at work, all their birthdays are 'Jan. 1.' The one I'm friendliest with doesn't know how old he is exactly and doesn't know when his birthday is (no birth certificate). He said that's not that uncommon.

Yeah, it's possible these guys really ARE in the 19-21 age group, but just don't have the documentation to prove it. Let's hope so, for the sake of fair play.

[analyst]

I spoke to the father of a member of our U20 team coaching staff and he said the coaches are most concerned about Colombia.

[beachesl]

quote:Originally posted by Dave

Yeah, it's possible these guys really ARE in the 19-21 age group, but just don't have the documentation to prove it. Let's hope so, for the sake of fair play.

Well, they clearly have the "documentation" to prove it. The regs require birth certificates. However, the Syrian government can issue birth certificates to say anything, and no one can prove otherwise. In Latin-America, where a challenging team appealing a result they don't like against the opposing accused team based on player ineligibility is a time-honoured tradition, one can always do some detective work involving baptistry or agency records to prove the actual age of the player impugned. Try doing that in a place like Syria.

The relevant portions of WYC Regulations:

"Article 25 Players’ lists

2. This initial list shall be accompanied by copies of the birth certificates and passports of each player appearing on the list. This documentation must reach the FIFA general secretariat by the deadline stipulated in the relevant circular.

6. Before the start of the final competition, all players listed must prove their identity, nationality and age by producing both their legally valid individual passport with photograph (stating day, month and year of birth) and their birth certificate. Any player who fails to submit these documents shall not be allowed to take part in the final competition.

7. If any discrepancies are detected, the FIFA Organising Committee shall apply the provisions determined by the FIFA Executive Committee for such cases and decide the consequences that such a violation will have on the rest of the final competition. The FIFA Organising Committee will then forward the file to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.

9. Only players in possession of valid accreditation may play in the final competition. The accreditation shall always be available for inspection by FIFA offi cials (e.g. referees, general coordinators and match commissioners)."

[CanadasBest]

quote:Originally posted by Winnipeg Fury

What a bloody joke !

I imagine this was a typo. The dates were probably just entered into an excel spreadsheet inconsistently. If you switch between DD/MM/YY to MM/DD/YY in the same data set, when you go to re-format the data, it converts to 01/01/YY.

[DJT]

quote:Originally posted by Free kick

I do not feel thats its proper to have to go to the general discussions section to discuss a match involving, say, Columbia versus Italy. Who are both in the same group as canada. Most who are only interested in following canada, will likely be interested in what happens with possible future opponents or even past opponents. Therefore it is very likely that these discussions will likely drift to discussions involving canada. Do we want that in the general discuions?

I didn't say this thread should be just for Canadian news, I said it should also be for news about our first-round opponents. Then of course that can be extended if we advance to the next round, though in that case a whole new thread might be in order. I just don't see the point of posting news about Benin, Chile or Switzerland in this thread.

[Guest Jeffery S.]

quote:Originally posted by analyst

I spoke to the father of a member of our U20 team coaching staff and he said the coaches are most concerned about Colombia.

Well then I am most concerned about the coaches. Anyone knows that the most important game is the next, especially in a group stage. Let's get focussed guys, for all the wonders we did last time we only made it out with luck and ended up as a quarter finalist with a losing record.

[The Beaver]

Well, I could be wrong, but I can't see Mitchell getting ahead of himself by thinking past Syria. He knows that it will be difficult to even get a result against them. Certainly Syria must be thinking that their best chance to take some points will be against us. No doubt about it, we have to focus on the next game and nothing else. I'm sure Mitchell is driving this into our guys. We need a result against Syria first, then let's start thinking about the Colombians.

[analyst]

Don't get me wrong, the coaches aren't taking any of our opponents lightly. Its just that they think the Colombian team is the strongest of the three.

[matthew]

quote:Originally posted by analyst

Don't get me wrong, the coaches aren't taking any of our opponents lightly. Its just that they think the Colombian team is the strongest of the three.

Yeah that's how I read your original comments. I think there should be no doubt that Colombia are the best team in our group. They have been to the semis at the last U20 and U17 and have some of the best goal-scorers in the tournament. They can field a starting lineup of first-team regulars in the Colombian league and three or their four forwards are in the top 10 in league scoring and the fourth has made a few appearances with River Plate in Argentina. They beat Brazil and Argentina in qualifying and the core of this team beat the host Finns 9-1 at the last U17.

If Italy had Curci, Zambelli, Motta, Montolivio, Sorrentino, Alberto, etc maybe I'd think differently, but with a weakened team I don't see them as pool favourites. However they should probably be favoured against us, Colombia certainly is and Syria could be dangerous. I think we're taking everyone very seriously and will be ready to go Sunday.

cheers,

matthew

[DJT]

quote:Originally posted by matthew

They beat Brazil and Argentina in qualifying

I don't know if you meant that they beat Brazil and Argentina by finishing first in the group or if you meant that they beat them in actual matches. The former is true, but only half of the latter is true as they beat Brazil once and tied Argentina twice. It should be noted that the tournament was held in Colombia.

[DJT]

quote:Originally posted by matthew

They beat Brazil and Argentina in qualifying

I don't know if you meant that they beat Brazil and Argentina by finishing first in the group or if you meant that they beat them in actual matches. The former is true, but only half of the latter is true as they beat Brazil once and tied Argentina twice. It should be noted that the tournament was held in Colombia.

[matthew]

quote:Originally posted by DJT

I don't know if you meant that they beat Brazil and Argentina by finishing first in the group or if you meant that they beat them in actual matches. The former is true, but only half of the latter is true as they beat Brazil once and tied Argentina twice. It should be noted that the tournament was held in Colombia.

I meant finished ahead of. ie tops in qualifying. Which isn't what i wrote I realize. Even though Colombia was at home I still think they are the best in CONMEBOL. We'll see I guess . . .

cheers,

matthew

[Guest Jeffery S.]

quote:Originally posted by matthew

I meant finished ahead of. ie tops in qualifying. Which isn't what i wrote I realize. Even though Colombia was at home I still think they are the best in CONMEBOL. We'll see I guess . . .

cheers,

matthew

All reports I saw glowed about them, I think they are the most dangerous side in our group.

By the way, the Syria review was extraordinary, great work.

[MikeD]

I hope Gerry Dobson comes to this board and reads Matthew's report on Syria because it's better than the research Gerry usually has on our more obscure opponents for his broadcasts. Fantastic work - I will have a printout of Matthew's post with me when I watch the match.