Any doubts as to who the best team is competing at the FIFA U-20 World Cup were erased Thursday night.
Argentina put on a master-class performance in Toronto, counting on two sensational goals from Atletico Madrid star Sergio Aguero to defeat Poland 3-1 and book its spot in the quarter-finals.
It's now 10 games and counting for Argentina - that's how many consecutive contests the South Americans have gone unbeaten at the U-20 World Cup, dating back to the 2005 competition.
Argentina hasn't been the only ones to play attacking, beautiful soccer in this tournament. Nigeria, Mexico, Chile and Spain have all provided fan across the country with plenty to talk about.
But none of them have even come close to displaying the class and skill of Argentina. You need only review the Poland game for evidence of that.
Trailing 1-0, Argentina battled back and took only seven minutes to level the score on a pretty passing play.
Midfield creator Ever Banega started the fluid movement, feeding the ball out to the right to Maximiliano Moralez who made a darting run and fed a quick pass to Aguero, then collected Aguero's one-touch pass before slipping the ball across the goalmouth to Angel Di Maria, who knocked it in.
There were more moments of brilliance to come from Argentina in the second half.
Aguero showed why he is considered one of the top young forwards in the game when he spun around on the edge of the penalty box while playing the ball over his head, then effortlessly slid between two dumbfounded Polish defenders and hammered a driving shot into the back of the net.
The high-light reel goal left the majority of reporters in the press box (myself inlcuded) awe-struck and hounding Argentina coach Hugo Tocalli in the post-game press conference to comment on the performance of his star forward.
"He's a quality player who makes a difference, the type of player coaches dream of having in their team," said Tocalli.
Argentina has played the game with grace and elegance, the way the game should be played.
The reigning world champions have looked unbeatable in Canada (the Poland game marked the first time they trailed in this tournament) and you get the sense from watching them play that Argentina look a sure bet to repeat as champions and claim an unprecedented sixth world title.
Unless a bout of food poisoning hits the team.
Comments
That is yet to bee seen. Argentina has a good team but we cannot say they are the best team as yet. Chile has played with very strong rivals and they have not allowed a goal as yet. After sunday we may be able to say who the best team is, but that is yet to be seen.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 13, 2007 11:51 PM
I have no idea which games this person has been watching. Argentina played amazing only in the Panama match. Since 2005, they are not a team that shines, missing on many chances in the attack. I think Mexico, Chile and Spain have a much more powerful attack. Even the USA national team that has shown great skill and potential could even thump us around the field. I hope Argentina wins, but they have not proven to be the best team in the tournament.
Posted by: Guillermo Ottawa | July 14, 2007 10:38 AM
You don't know what you are talking about (many of your predictions have been way off.) I quite like Mexico's chances against Argentina, after all, they are the same squad which won the under-17 in 2005, are well-organized and strong both defensively and offensively. Thursday's game at the Big O was amazing and the atmosphere was terrific, with a crowd of over 40,000.
PS: Please tell me the final will be played at Skydome and not the pathetically small BMO field. Who's idea was it to build a stadium whose capacity is smaller than most NHL arenas in a metropolitan area of 6 million people anyway?
Posted by: Sebastian Desbarats Montreal | July 14, 2007 11:16 AM
I am an Argentinian living in Toronto and happy to see our team doing their best for the beautiful game. I was lucky to see Argentina-Poland in the BMO field. I was amazed by the spirit of the Poland fans. It was a party. At the end of the game, both fans groups, singing, mixing peacefully in a even bigger party. Nobody knows is Argentina will win this tournament or not, Molinaro may have been to optimistic to pick Argentina. However, I love one of his phrases: �..Argentina has played the game with grace and elegance, the way the game should be played��. And that is for sure.
Football (soccer) is one of the most beautiful games in this planet. For everybody, anywhere, poor, rich, warm climate, cold climate, any language. An example that hard works, passion and team collaboration pays off.
Soccer is great not because some teams win games. .. this is important but every game has winner and looses. More important is to play nice, to show grace, to win by dancing-out the ball to the goal. Make the fans thrill and start jumping in their seats.
Our kids try that hard, and I am very happy with that. Even if we loose to Mexico next Sunday. There are just great kids doing their best and will keep on going to the game for win or for loose to fell the rush of the passion. The day teams and countries start winning soccer games without passion and grace it will the decadence. If Argentina wins, we are still safe to party will go on.
Posted by: Pablo Elustondo Toronto | July 14, 2007 02:59 PM
well i agree that is beutifull to see team like argentina play the way they move the ball arround is so beutifull and when they on top in the penalty are they can come up with all kind of different moves to get rid of the defenders and there is no doubt about SERGIO AGUERO being the best player of the tournament and it will be another injustice from fifa if they dont guive him the award. adu big sesapointment againg he had one good game againg poland and that was it and then he will show up once in a while in the game and i dont understand how come with so many latin players playing in the usa there no one in the national team that can change the game arround.
Posted by: nery | July 14, 2007 06:03 PM
Argentina is by far the best team in this tournament. They have the most talented soccer players like kun aguero, morales, zarate, de maria etc. Tomorrow we will see Argentina shine once again against mexico. Vamos argenitna
Posted by: Anonymous | July 14, 2007 06:25 PM
Quite a statement.. yes I agree that they played nicely against Poland but I would like to see them do those "fancy" tricks against other, more powerful teams. We will see how good they are tomorrow against Mexico. I think they will be forced to stop.
Posted by: Peter Wallace Vancouver | July 14, 2007 07:07 PM
Just because they are Argentina it doesn't mean that they are the best team, don't underestimate Mexico, a team with a less renowned name but who are the squad that won the U-17 championship, a squad is made by its players, not its reputation over the years.....
Posted by: Anonymous | July 14, 2007 11:09 PM
The Czechs style of play is a disgrace to soccer. If the continue to win and other teams adopt their methods, this will a tragedy for the beautiful game.
Posted by: Frank Toronto | July 15, 2007 09:41 AM
RE: Frank Toronto
The Czech team shows their skill by shutting down the best offences in the world. They have wonderful strategy, they knew Spain had the better offense, so they tired them out, enough to get to the penalty kicks, thats called Strategy!!! You can have the best offense in the game, but if your defence sucks you are going home. What is the disgrace is people like you who dont know anything about soccer.
Posted by: John Ottawa | July 15, 2007 09:58 AM
I think the Czechs employed a style that Germany used to use. It was boring, but effective.
Argentina may look like a better team, but as Austria proved, you have to get on the pitch and play the game. It won't surprise me to see Mexico win. And I predict that the Chile-Nigeria match might well be the most entertaining of the entire tournament. I predict one team will win 4-3. I hope it will be Chile. But I certainly don't expect some 0-0 draw with those two teams.
Posted by: Ken | July 15, 2007 11:06 AM
There's no doubt that Argentina is one of the stronger teams in this competitions - but ruling Mexico out for the win in today's match (or better yet, the whole tournament) would be foolish. As mentioned earlier, this is the same squad that won the U-17 tournament last year. They are a clearly a force to be reckoned with.
Who will prevail? I've got all of my money on my paisanos!!
Posted by: chonnita canada | July 15, 2007 01:20 PM
I absolutely agree with the comments about the Czech style of play. There is a sense in which it is not only a disgrace to soccer, it is a disservice to soccer. In fact, it is an embarrassment and disgrace to the Czech attacking style of play if one remembers Pavel Nedved, Poborsky, etc. Soccer is not just about defending it is about attacking. People do not generally watch soccer on TV or go to the stadium to see a bunch of 11 players kicking the ball around only in their defensive zone. People generally want to see display of skills, attacking flair and goals scored base on well orchestrated attacks, not goals scored against the run of play or a �sit-back and come after me if you can� style of play, or a 100% defensive play that only plays for penalty shootout. The Czech style of play at the under 20 Youth competition illustrates most of the things that are wrong with soccer.
If you guys remember that was the style Argentina employed that got them to the Italy 1990 World Cup finals against Germany. It was due to such defensive and destructive play that partly led to the campaign of pressuring FIFA to find a way round penalty shoot outs: so that teams like Argentina and Czech would not succeed were they ought not to succeed, or so that teams like that would be discouraged from playing an all-defensive and destructive soccer.
Argentina (at 1taly 1990 where they were the defending champion), you guys will recall played such an all-defensive and destructive soccer that they only played for penalty shootout. First of all, they qualified from their group as the weakest team (3rd with 3 points having won 1 lost 1 and drawn 1), and then they won their quarter-finals and semi-finals games against Yugoslavia and host-Italy on penalty shootouts. They only lost to Germany in the finals because their trick and tactics of sit-back and defend did not work. That is the way the Czech team is also going. It won�t surprise me if they do the same thing against Austria to get to the finals.
Posted by: Edwin E Edmonton | July 15, 2007 01:50 PM
I don't think there is much question that Argentina has looked like the best team in the tournament so far. They are also the most enjoyable to watch.
I historically haven't cheered for them because of being an English supporter, and memories of '86 and '98 are still fresh, but their U-20 squad have looked tremendous so far (and their senior team was a treat to watch in Germany last year). In a tournament with several footballing wizards, Aguero is one of the brightest young players I have seen in awhile, as evidenced by his skill and calmness in the convincing win over Poland the other day. I find myself cheering for them, even though I like Mexican teams generally and was delighted with their creativity against Portugal in the preliminary round.
I think it's unfortunate that they have to meet the highly skilled Mexican squad so early. I really am praying that the coma-inducing Czechs don't make it to the final. There are many teams I would rather see than Austria but at least the latter played some good football against the sluggish Americans. The encounter between the suddenly tepid Spanish and the unimaginative Czechs (who are good at slowing games down and at taking penalty kicks) was the worst soccer game I've ever seen that didn't at least contain the embarrassing soccer amateurs who represent Canada. I have tickets for the final and I want to see the sort of exciting attacking football that fans have seen from the Argies, Mexicans, Chileans and earlier from the Spanish and Americans.
Either way, I am confident that Argentina (sorry fans of the gold and blue) will become the #1 team in the world in the next few years and soccer fans will be beneficiaries.
Posted by: steven Cooke toronto | July 15, 2007 02:42 PM
Well, you were right. Argentina won, but I must say that they played
way to defensive for my taste. Horrible way to play with no action
and no surprises. And I say booooooo! to that. I can only hope they will
get pulverized by Chile. That will teach them to play like real man, in the
same way the main Arg. team got beat by Brazil today: 3-0, at the
copa America.
P.S.
What was going on with the referee? quite bias towards
Argentina if you ask me.
Posted by: Peter Wallace Vancouver | July 15, 2007 10:15 PM
All you boneheads whinning about the Czechs playing a boring style of football should go watch (or play) somthing else. Its about winning. Period. Unfortunately, these big strong boys aren't as gifted as the flamboyant attackers of Argentina, Chile, Mexico etc., and therefor they have to adopt a different style of play. What would be the point of playing another teams style of game when it does not suit their current setup? Don't worry, they're just gaining confidence, they'll open it up when they need to! Czechs all the way! CZECH-MATE.
Posted by: richard nanaimo | July 16, 2007 01:58 AM
Till now anyone can say that Argentina is the best ........regarding the football......if it is U-20 world cup or Copa America or even world cup.......
and specially in this tournament i.e. U-20 Argentina has been going through the top form
.but one thing that i want to clarify that luck never favors Argentina
I think there are many examples in front of us.........
today in the final of Copa America ....Argentina was the favourite but was defeated
so anything can happen in game
so i want to tell all the fans of Argentina(including me) pray for the best
event though Argentina is the favourite in U-20 World Cup and Argentinens are the best..anything can happen in game
May God Bless Us and may God be with Us...i.e. May God help Argentina to win this World Cup
Posted by: Lover of Argentina | July 16, 2007 12:36 PM
They way Argentina played with Mexico, i do not think they will get passed the Chilean Squad. They are playing as a team, in if they continue playing like that they will win thursday's game without any doubts. Chile has a much stronger team than Argentina, i have no idea why people say all the time Argentina and Brazil are the favourites. Look what happened to the South American champion, they did not last very long. This is because these guys came here to play individually but not as a team, they wanted to shine, as well as the Argentinian team is doing it. We must wait till thursday and after that game we can predict who will be the champion.
Posted by: Cesar Regina | July 16, 2007 08:51 PM