Champions ... really ?

Yesterday, someone mentioned to me that Ghana were deserving champions of the under-20 World Cup. He then went on to elaborate on how Ghana had played for 80 minutes with 10 men (after a red card for one of their defenders) and had still held on to beat Brazil on penalties.

Truth is, I hadn’t even noticed that the under-20 World Cup had been going on. So I kept quiet and listened and nodded.

Now that I’ve had a chance to look it up, I realize why I had not noticed that the tournament was being held over the past month. The European season had already started, the World Cup qualifiers were still going on, and some of the biggest young stars in the European leagues were not even at the under-20 World Cup.

Even a short list reads like a who’s who of emerging teenage football talents :

• Mario Balotelli (Italy – Inter Milan)
• Thomas Muller (Germany – Bayern Munich)
• Bojan Krkic (Spain – Barcelona)
• Theo Walcott (England – Arsenal)

Besides these starlets, there were a host of other players who remained with their clubs throughout the under-20 World Cup with some of them even joining their country’s senior team for the World Cup qualifiers.

So Ghana won the under-20 World Cup. Big deal.

Sadly, I feel that FIFA have done a great disservice to the World Cup name and in reality, Ghana have merely won a second tier youth tournament. Wouldn’t it have been better for FIFA to have held the tournament in June or July, just like the World Cup, when all the young starlets would have been available ?