World Cup 2006 Blog |  |
| Is the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup a Proper Tournament or Not? Posted: 05 Oct 2009 02:40 PM PDT
I have several good reasons for asking. First is the absence of certain eligible big name players. Bojan Krkic, Jack Wilshere, Mario Balotelli etcetera. But I’ve already had a rant about that, so won’t do so again. Second, as you can see in the above image from the Trinidad & Tobago vs Paraguay group game, several game are being played on artificial turf. There is a FIFA Quality Concept for Artificial Turf, and Sepp Blatter and co. have decreed that pitches meeting this standard are acceptable. And I completely understand this in places where it’s a necessity. But it’s not so understandable for a supposed showpiece international event, where proper grass fields could be grown for the occasion. We’re pretty sure FIFA has the money. Third but not least, it is apparently impossible to get knocked out of this tournament. Italy finished third in Group A, behind Egypt and Paraguay. But because the format allows for four of the six third placed teams to make the knockout stage, the Azzurrini still went through to the round of 16 and today beat Spain (who finished first in Group B without conceding even a single a goal) 3-1, in what looks like a pretty exciting game: Well done to the young Italians, and I don’t want to take anything away from their performance. But can we really take this tournament seriously if the best players aren’t there, the games aren’t played on real grass and teams can finish third in a group of four and still go through? |
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