Latin flair

Why South America has owned the U-20 World Cup

By John F. Molinaro, CBCSports.ca

You wouldn't know it by their meagre performances on the opening day of the tournament, but Argentina and Brazil have historically dominated the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Brazil's shocking 1-0 loss to Poland and Argentina's 0-0 draw against the Czech Republic Saturday shouldn't make fans overlook that the two South American countries have combined to win nine of the 15 U-20 World Cups, including six of the last seven.

Spain is the only other nation to win the biennial tournament in the last 14 years, breaking up the Argentina-Brazil duopoly when it claimed the championship in 1999 in Nigeria.

So why has South America flourished while Europe has floundered at the U-20 World Cup?

One reason is the quality of coaching and a deep commitment to developing young players.

Argentina's Lionel Messi was named MVP of the 2005 tournament. (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

"Argentina has an excellent youth team program and they have the best coaches in the world in terms of teaching young players," soccer commentator Dick Hoard told CBCSports.ca.

Howard also points out that Argentine clubs have a knack for spotting emerging talent at a young age.

"All the top teams in Argentina identify players when they're still young, bring them into their system, and place them into their regional training centres. From the time the players walk through the door when they're 13, they're looked after as they grow up and work their way into the starting lineup," Howard explained.

Argentinos Juniors, one of the top pro clubs in Argentina, discovered Diego Maradona when he was only 10 years old. After several years of playing in the club's youth team, Maradona made his debut for Argentinos Juniors just days before his 16th birthday.

In 1979, Maradona helped Argentina win the FIFA World Youth Championship in Japan and moved to Europe, where he joined FC Barcelona and then Napoli en route to becoming the greatest soccer player of his era.

Like Maradona, other young South American stars, including Brazil's Dunga and Enzo Francescoli of Uruguay, have used the U-20 World Cup as a springboard to landing a contract with a European club.

"There are some individuals who will capture the attention of fans and catch the eye of clubs, because you're putting yourself on showcase in this tournament," explained CBC Sports commentator Craig Forrest.

"A lot of scouts attend this tournament and in the case of a lot of the South Americans, this is their opportunity to impress European clubs, because they know that's where the big money is."

Forrest added: "The U-20 World Cup is a shop window, but it's also a way for these young players to establish themselves for their national team."

It's also important to remember that Argentina and Brazil have a huge talent pool to choose from.

"I just think it's a numbers game and the way they bring up kids through the system," Forrest said.

"Brazil's coach told me last year there was a tournament where the top pro clubs in Brazil were putting together full teams, 40 teams in all, of players that were eligible to play for the under-19 team … To be able to sit down and handpick players like that in a country like Brazil with the culture and everybody playing the game, it's a huge advantage," Forrest said.