For many years Carlos Bilardo campaigned for his players from the 1986 World Cup to be brought as managers to all levels of the national team. These players who eventually became managers are refered to by the Argentine media as the "86 Generation".

Players like Jorge Luis Burruchaga, Hector Enrique, Sergio Batista, Jose Luis Brown, Nery Pumpido, Oscar Garre, Julio Olarticochea.

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Giuliano, Dominic Adiyiah & Alex Teixeira: The main men in Egypt (Getty)As ever, this year's Under-20 World Cup provided a fantastic opportunity for us to assess the best up and coming youngsters in... Click to continue reading...

This is a bit late, but necessary. Brazil lost the final of the U20, but the result was just a detail (besides the fact that young Brazilian squads always lose to African nations). The real question is: what can we expect of those players in the future?

Possibly, 1 or 2 will be adult World Cup material (in my opinion, one of them will be Giuliano).

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Big Story

The Montreal Impact defeated the defending champions Vancouver Whitecaps 3-1 at Stade Saputo yesterday to win the USL-1 Final 6-3 on aggregate. First half goals from Tony Donatelli, Joey Gjertsen and Roberto Brown were all Montreal needed to win, although Vancouver defender Shaun Pejic's controversial red card in the 29th minute for hauling down the last man in the area probably helped a mite.

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Yesterday's U20 final, Brazil vs. Ghana. So much potential for excitement. Ghana's Black Satellites (the baby version of the Black Stars) came into the final having scored 16 goals in the tournament. Brazil stood at 14. Surely a goal-fest was in order.

But no.

The game-changing moment happens at about the 1:10 mark in the video, when Ghana's Daniel Addo is sent off in the 37th.

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Congratulations to Ghana for getting to spot kicks after going down a man late in the first half and rallying there to defeat Brazil for the 2009 FIFA Under-20 World Cup title.I have to admit, Black Satellites, you fooled me. I didn't think you could lock it down, I thought you'd resort to a toe-to-toe slugfest. Click to continue reading...

I lived in Ghana for many years, and it is with happy nostalgia that I have seen that the Ghana U20 team has won the 2009 U20 World in Egypt, by defeating Brazil in the final, 4-3 after penalty kicks! This is the first time ever an African team wins this tournament, and breaks eight years of South American dominance in the tournament, although Ghana was also in the final in 1993, losing to Brazil Click to continue reading...

Ghana brought the first ever U20 World Title to an African country today, by beating Brazil on penalties (4 to 3) after a 0-0 match. The match was tense and Brazil was superior, but we all know that in football a goal is all that counts. And penalties are penalties. But Ghana deserves it..

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Ghana have become the first ever African side to win the Under-20 World Cup after beating Brazil 4-3 on penalties. A 0-0 scoreline after 120 minutes did no justice to the excitement of a dramatic... Click to continue reading...

So the Selecao Bebes will play in the finals of the U-20 World Cup against Ghana today and we know how excited you are, so they'd better bring home the title! Iremos gritar!

As you can see, they're all feeling a little sentimental now but if they can't lose now.

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So will the FIFA Under-20 World Cup 2009 round off to the sound of the samba beat? Or to the din of the African drum? Matters in Egypt come to a head this Friday evening, when two of the... Click to continue reading...

Brazil will face Ghana tomorrow on FIFA's U20 World Cup. Brazil has four titles and Ghana will have the chance of revenge after losing the 1993 title to Seleção. Good match not to be missed. Showing on: CBC-bold, cbcsports.ca, ESPN, ESPN360.com, Galavision.

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Brazil defeated Costa Rica 1-0 in the semis of the U-20 World Cup today. From reading the match reports, it sounded like a very choppy and cagey match, decided by a well-taken goal midway through the second half. It was a much better showing by Costa Rica than their group phase opener, but they were still far away from scoring a goal. Click to continue reading...

I know some folks like to find a little distraction when waiting and worrying takes over. Therefore, I've decided to continue with this bit of regularly scheduled NSC programming.However, my promised S365 column can wait until tomorrow. I was about to publish it when the Davies news got around, and obviously put it to the side. Click to continue reading...

The FIFA U-20 World Cup had its semifinals on Tuesday as Brazil faced Costa Rica and Ghana played Hungary. While not as prestigious as the main World Cup, the U-20 is an indicator of a nation's strength in the upcoming years. The third place and championship match will be played on Friday, October 16, 2009.

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The Black Satellites dance their way to the U-20 World Cup semi-finals in Egypt (Getty)Just four teams remain in the 2009 Under-20s World Cup as the competition reaches it's semi-final stage in... Click to continue reading...

As everybody's search for a USMNT v Honduras video continues, let's soak in some awesome...It also started so well for Ireland, with Glenn Whelan doing the ice-breaking honors in style.In the Under-20 World Cup, Italy's Giacomo Bonaventura single-handedly staves off the Hungary upset for a bit.Spain's Xavi and Cesc Fabregas play a two-man game where nobody else knows the rules. Click to continue reading...

[Photo: Reuter] Our scheduled Cardinals boasting has been postponed until Game 2. They don't really drop playoff openers, so it's very weird for me. I'm not sure what to do. Never mind, I'm confident Adam will set things Wainwright...#1 - I had no idea someone did an MLS computer ranking! Why didn't someone tell me? Click to continue reading...

Here are the ones who have qualified to the quarter-finals. My bet for the final goes to Italy vs. Brazil.

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Today Germany faced Nigeria on the round of 16 of the U20 World Cup, going on in Egypt. Germany was playing with 10 men on the pitch and the game was 2-2. Germany's #13, Koppin, managed to steal the ball and score on the last second to send the Nigerians home. Well done.

The Germans now face Brazil on the quarter finals and that should be a great match.

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The FIFA 2009 U-20 World Cup is now in the quarterfinal stage as the last round of 16 matches finished up on Wednesday. These were Brazil v Uruguay, Germany v Nigeria, and Venezeula v United Arab Emirates. Here's a recap of all the matches along with video highlights.

Brazil beats Uruguay 3-1 Video Highlights

Brazil took a quick 3-0 lead after only 30 minutes and held Uruguay to only one for the entire match.

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Alex Teixeira leads the celebrations for Brazil vs Uruguay at the U-20 World Cup in Egypt Click to continue reading...

Today I have seen two different pieces on what the US U20's bomb out in Egypt means for player development in the US. (See these great pieces, Phil Schoen's here and Glenn Davis' here.) Player development in the US, or at least what passes for it, is a serious problem. I've always maintained that the elimination of the MLS Reserve League was about one thing only, reducing the player pool available to potentially strike or (more likely) be locked out should the negotiations for the new CBA somehow fail. Click to continue reading...

After week 29 the numbers look like this...

 5 year comparison  WK 29 205 GP YTD  Avg +/- GP Avg +/- Avg +/- GP  2005  18,417   6  15,959   15,108   192  2006  20,277  10.10%  6  16,235  1.73%  15,402  1. Click to continue reading...

It was a good day for the young generation of Italian players at FIFA's U20 World Cup. The Azzurri beat Spain 3:1 and sent the opponents home. La Furia had 10 men on the pitch and could not hold Italy's strength. With Italy desperately needing renovation in its current squad this is surely looking good.

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I have a quick look at how my pre-tourney Under-20 World Cup predictions have done so far, plus my second chance knockout predictions.If you recall, this is what I had for the round of 16 match-ups (correct bracket slot = blue, correct knockout qualifier = green & big fat oops = red):Paraguay over USA (extra time)Ghana over Costa RicaSpain over Korea RepublicCzech Republic over Hungary (extra Click to continue reading...

Uruguay show England how it's done at the U-20 World Cup 2009 in Egypt Click to continue reading...

Sorry it took me so long to change the Cut...Let's begin with the week's finest from MLS.Nicklas Bendtner caps Arsenal's thrashing of Blackburn with a wicked drive.I'm sorry... how does Ronal-flippin-dinho get the space to do this 10 meters from goal when Atalanta are protecting a 1-0 lead in the late going? Click to continue reading...

It's official now. Our boys are out. I'm not sure anyone really wanted to watch that team play another match anyway.

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Did you notice how I capitalized the whole title, as if it was some sore of official organ, and not just literally what this post was doing? Wicked.Okay, so it all comes down to Group E, and the Czech Republic v Costa Rica game in particular. Mladá Boleslav strike sensation Jan Chramosta put the Czechs up 1-0 in the 11th minute, and we are now just past the half hour. Click to continue reading...

The US Under-20 team, in Egypt for the U-20 World Cup, went down to South Korea today 3-0. The Americans never really threatened their opponents, and while they maintained possession for decent...

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South Korea, that is.Coach Thomas Rongen runs the same eleven:Perk; Williams, Opara, Agbossoumonde, Flores, Arguez, Jeffrey, Duka, Cruz, Shea, TaylorWe're under an hour from kickoff, back in a spell...--- Greg Seltzer Click to continue reading...

Sadly, I am beyond swamped with work, so I won't go into great detail explaining my prediction for today's game. I will keep it simple.The Baby 'Nats will win a tough scrap and finish second in the group. Bam.The reading room awaits:- U.S. U-20 match notes- FIFA match preview- FIFA profiles So. Korea F Cho Young Cheol- Cameroon v Germany match preview- U. Click to continue reading...

This is a special birthday edition as my wonderful grandmother is 96 years young today!Let's begin with a pinpoint drive from Ghana U-20 skipper Andrew Ayew lashing home the second goal (at the :40 mark) in a rout of England.Also in the U-20 World Cup, Hungary's Adam Presinger curls home a beauty to cap Hungary's blasting of South Africa. Click to continue reading...

What a difference a day makes, eh? In fact, that's gonna be tomorrow's Cut of the Day. I only wish I'd thought of it sooner...#1 - My significantly sunnier U.S. Under-20 Player Ratings for last night's sound defeat of Cameroon are up.#2 - Also from yesterday is a new edition of my MLS Club Ladder.#3 - Another Tuesday night bit: the Columbus Crew hosted a 1-1 draw with Costa Rican giants Saprissa Click to continue reading...