Monday, July 04, 2005

FIFA World Youth Champions 2005

Last Saturday, the final of the FIFA World Youth Championship was played in the Netherlands. I did not have the fortune to watch the match, because I was rocking and drinking at the Roskilde Festival. However, I was glad to hear that Argentina won a tight match 2-1 against a well-playing Nigeria team. Both Argentinean goals were scored on penalty by Lionel Messi - a rising 19-year old Argentinean star, who plays for Barcelona. I do not think this is the last time I will be writing about Mr. Messi.
This was the 15th final of a tournament which started in 1977, and was won by the USSR. The tournament has largely been led by the two South American giants, Brazil and Argentina. Brazil has won four times, and with this year's victory, Argentina has won five. The following table gives a full overview of the tournament:

Tunisia 1977

USSR

Mexico

Brazil

Uruguay

Japan 1979

Argentina

USSR

Uruguay

Poland

Australia 1981

West Germany

Qatar

Romania

England

Mexico 1983

Brazil

Argentina

Poland

South Corea

USSR 1985

Brazil

Spain

Nigeria

USSR

Chile 1987

Yugoslavia

West Germany

East Germany

Chile

Saudi Arabia 1989

Portugal

Nigeria

Brazil

USA

Portugal 1991

Portugal

Brazil

USSR

Australia

Australia 1993

Brazil

Ghana

England

Australia

Qatar 1995

Argentina

Brazil

Portugal

Spain

Malaysia 1997

Argentina

Uruguay

Ireland

Ghana

Nigeria 1999

Spain

Japan

Mali

Uruguay

Argentina 2001

Argentina

Ghana

Egypt

Paraguay

UAE 2003

Brazil

Spain

Colombia

Argentina

Netherlands 2005

Argentina

Nigeria

Brazil

Morocco


The next tournament in 2007, will be hosted by Canada. It will again be a good opportunity to see the rising stars of international football. The matches are usually very entertaining, and the tournament is beginning to attract much greater attention! And surely, we might already see some of the players in next years World Cup in Germany!

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