Sporting Madness

The FIFA U-20 World Cup continues to provide quality soccer. Only eight teams remain in the competition, and by Sunday night, they'll be reduced to four. Without further ado (Freddy or other), here's my previews and predictions for the quarter-final clashes. Saturday: Austria vs. USA (BMO Field, Toronto, 2:15 P.M. ET) This should be an interesting tilt. The U.S. has had a strong tournament so far, defeating such South American powers as Brazil and Uruguay. Freddy Adu has shown why everyone rated him so highly several years ago, and has lived up to his tremendous potential. Danny Szetela has also been terrific, producing several goals in addition to his solid play as a defensive midfielder. Austria has also been strong, especially defensively, where they have only conceded two goals. Their attack has been reasonably one-dimensional though, with Erwin (Jimmy) Hoffer producing half of their goals. Surprisingly enough, the pre-match lineups have listed Hoffer as starting on the be...

Yesterday's FIFA U-20 World Cup Round of Sixteen matches had a tough act to follow after Wednesday's dramatics. However, it turned out to be another great evening of soccer, with many interesting storylines to follow. My picks all won as well, leaving me at 6 and 2 thus far. I'll post previews and predictions for the quarter-finals before matches begin tomorrow. Poland - Argentina generated yesterday's best highlights, first with the surprise tally from Polish striker Dawid Janczyk , and then with the tremendous skill the Argentinians displayed in response. Maximiliano Moralez and Angel Di Maria combined very nicely for the first goal before the half, and then Sergio Aguero took over. Aguero , with his back to goal early on after the break, brilliantly chipped the ball to himself over his defender, ran around, and drilled it into the net. He then went on to pot his second marker of the evening near full time to seal the victory for his squad. Argentina looked bril...

Last night featured perhaps the best clashes of the FIFA U-20 World Cup thus far. All of the matches were extremely close, with Austria defeating Gambia 2-1 on a late goal, the Americans besting Uruguay 2-1 in extra time, Spain getting two goals in extra time to beat the Brazilians, and the Czechs slipping by Japan in a shootout. The Spain - Brazil clash was one of the best games I've seen at any level in a long while. Both teams were terrific, but Spain probably deserved the win on the strength of their chances. It's unfortunate that their first goal came on what clearly appeared to be a handball, though. The replay showed it pretty well, but also illustrated that Gerard Pique had his body between the ref and his hand, so it would have been a tough call to make (however, I still think the assistant should have picked it up). I'm quite confident that we'll see more of several players from both the Spanish and Brazilian sides in the near future. Six of the Spainards are ...

Here's my picks for Thursday's games: Argentina vs. Poland (4:45 PM ET, BMO Field, Toronto) Argentina were one of the favorites entering the tournament, and have done reasonably well so far. They started poorly, drawing 0-0 with the Czechs, but then hammered a weak Panama squad 6-0. They finished the group stage with a 1-0 victory over North Korea. Their defence has done tremendously well thus far not to allow a goal, but they haven't really faced a quality attacking side. Poland has been inconsistent thus far, pulling off an amazing 1-0 upset of Brazil in the opener but then getting shelled 6-1 by the Americans. They finished the group phase by drawing the South Koreans 1-1, good enough for second place in the "Group of Death, Group D. In order for them to win, they will have to follow the Greek model they utilized to perfection against Brazil: counterattack early and often, defend the middle of the pitch with all hands, and hope for an early goal. The longer the gam...

On Wednesday, the Round of 16 will begin at the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Here's my breakdowns and predictions for each one of tomorrow night's games. Picks for Thursday night's games will follow tomorrow. Wednesday: USA versus Uruguay (7:45 PM ET, BMO Field, Toronto) This will be an interesting one. The U.S. disappointed with a 1-1 draw in their opener against South Korea, which I saw in Montreal. However, they quickly recovered with a 6-1 demolishing of Poland and a massive 2-1 upset of Brazil. Freddy Adu has had a fantastic tournament thus far, and is perhaps showing the first real signs of living up to his tremendous potential. New York Red Bulls' striker Jozy Altidore has finished clinically thus far, while Sal Zizzo and Danny Szetela have produced well from midfield. Uruguay's team have not been as impressive to this point. They did well in the opener against a strong Spanish side, producing a draw, but barely squeaked out a 1-0 win over dismal Jordan and lo...

So, for a second time in as many months, Canada exits a tournament early. At the Gold Cup, this was due to a ridiculous offside call, but last night in the downpour in Edmonton, much of the blame was placed squarely on the shoulders of a fine crop of young Canadian players. However, They were in a difficult position from the start, due to Gambia's upset of Portugal, and needed to win by three to advance. Credit should go to head coach Dale Mitchell for getting the players to play the more offensive style required, and for finally starting the combination of Tosaint Ricketts and Andrea Lombardo at the front. Canada looked good early on, with Ricketts and David Edgar having chances inside the first ten minutes. Edgar, perhaps the one well-known star on this Canadian team for his work with Newcastle United, played well outside his normal role in the defence, and posed a serious threat from midfield for much of the match. Ricketts also impressed, much as he did in the game here in King...

Canada has a tough road ahead of them at the U-20 World Cup. The opening 3-0 loss to Chile last Sunday, combined with Thursday's 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Austrians, has left the home squad sitting in last place in their group. If this was the full World Cup, they would already be eliminated. However, all is not lost yet, as this championship allows the top four (out of six) third-place teams to advance to the next round. If Canada is able to defeat Congo tonight, they have a good shot at grabbing one of these spots. Here's how it breaks down. All teams are evaluated based on the number of points they have achieved from the games against the other three teams in their group. Three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw, and none for a loss. If teams are still tied, the first tiebreaker is goal differential (goals for minus goals against). If there is still a tie, the next tiebreaker is goals for, followed by fair play points (which includes the numbers of yellow and ...

It is terrific to see people in this country starting to take a deep interest in soccer. This year has been tremendous for this, with the construction of BMO Field in Toronto, the fantastic support for Toronto FC , Canada's run to the semifinals at the Gold Cup, and now the U-20 World Cup being held in Canada. There's always been some support for the world's game here in Canada, but the interest, and thus the coverage, has grown by leaps and bounds lately. It's been fantastic to have the ability to watch top-quality soccer more frequently. This year alone, Sportsnet has continued to lead the way with their trademark Premiership coverage, but they've also expanded to more Canadian matches than before (even if far too many are tape-delayed), and have started to cover Toronto FC as well. CBC has also rediscovered soccer, picking up some TFC games and televising most of the U-20 World Cup, while The Score has even gotten into the act with a few TFC games and a grea...