2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup

Bids

Three countries launched bids to host the competition: Canada, Japan and South Korea. On August 6, 2004 the FIFA Emergency Committee unanimously awarded the rights to host the event to Canada over South Korea (Japan did not submit an official bid).

Venues

Qualification

Twenty-three teams qualified for the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup. As the host team, Canada received an automatic bid, bringing the total number of teams to twenty-four for the tournament. The final draw for the group stages took place on 3 March 2007 in Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex, Toronto.

:1.Teams that made their debut.

Match officials

Squads

For a list of the squads see 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup squads

Group stage

The 24 participating teams were distributed between six groups of four teams each, according to a draw held on 3 March 2007. The groups are contested on a league system, where each team plays one time against the other teams in the same group, for a total of six matches per group. Each group winner and runner-up teams, as well as the best four third-placed teams, qualify for the first round of the knockout stage (round of 16).

Group A

19:45 EDT 23:45 UTC Carmona Grondona

17:45 MDT 23:45 UTC

17:45 MDT 23:45 UTC

20:30 MDT 02:30 UTC Medina Vidal

18:00 MDT 00:00 UTC Ikouma

20:00 EDT 00:00 UTC

Group B

14:15 PDT 21:15 UTC

17:00 PDT 00:00 UTC Capel L. Suárez

17:00 PDT 00:00 UTC

19:45 PDT 02:45 UTC Mata

14:15 PDT 21:15 UTC Marquitos Deeb

14:15 PDT 21:15 UTC Kola

Group C

14:15 EDT 18:15 UTC

17:00 EDT 21:00 UTC Moreno J. Hernández

17:00 EDT 21:00 UTC

19:45 EDT 23:45 UTC Barrera

17:15 EDT 21:15 UTC Mansally

15:15 MDT 21:15 UTC Mares

Group D

14:15 EDT 18:15 UTC

17:00 EDT 21:00 UTC

17:00 EDT 21:00 UTC Adu Altidore

19:45 EDT 23:45 UTC Pato Shin Young-rok

19:45 EDT 23:45 UTC

19:45 EDT 23:45 UTC

Group E

16:30 EDT 20:30 UTC

19:15 EDT 23:15 UTC

17:00 EDT 21:00 UTC Fenin Jon Kwang-ik

19:45 EDT 23:45 UTC Zárate Agüero Di María

17:00 EDT 21:00 UTC Střeštík

17:00 EDT 21:00 UTC

Group F

14:15 PDT 21:15 UTC Umesaki Aoyama

17:00 PDT 00:00 UTC

17:00 PDT 00:00 UTC

19:45 PDT 02:45 UTC

17:00 PDT 00:00 UTC

17:00 PDT 00:00 UTC McDonald

Ranking of third-placed teams

Knockout stage

|11 July – Edmonton||2||1 |11 July – Toronto| |2||1 |11 July – Burnaby|**** |4||2 |11 July – Victoria||2 (3)|**** |2 (4) |12 July – Edmonton||1||0 |12 July – Ottawa||1||2 |12 July – Toronto||3||1 |12 July – Montreal||3||0 |14 July – Toronto|**** |2||1 |14 July – Edmonton||1 (3)|**** |1 (4) |15 July – Montreal|**** |4||0 |15 July – Ottawa||1||0 |18 July – Edmonton||0||2 |19 July – Toronto||0||3 |22 July – Toronto||1||2 |22 July – Toronto||0|****|1

Round of 16

23:45 UTC Hoffer

23:45 UTC Bradley

03:15 UTC J. García Bueno Adrián L. Pato

03:15 UTC Morishima Mareš Aoki Makino Morishima Kashiwagi Kúdela Suchý Pekhart Okleštěk

20:45 UTC Akabueze

20:45 UTC Agüero

23:45 UTC

23:45 UTC Esparza Barrera

Quarter-finals

18:15 UTC Hoffer

23:45 UTC Adrián G. Valiente J. García Piqué Suchý Kúdela Pekhart

18:15 UTC Isla Vidangossy

23:45 UTC

Semi-finals

23:45 UTC Fenin

23:45 UTC Yacob Moralez

Match for third place

16:15 UTC

Final

Main article: 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup final

19:15 UTC Zárate

|}

Goalscorers

With six goals, Sergio Agüero was the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 135 goals were scored by 84 different players, with one of them credited as own goals.

;6 goals

• Argentina Sergio Agüero

;5 goals

• Spain Adrián López

;4 goals

• Argentina Maximiliano Moralez
• United States Jozy Altidore

;3 goals

• Argentina Ángel Di María
• Austria Erwin Hoffer
• Brazil Alexandre Pato
• Czech Republic Martin Fenin
• Czech Republic Luboš Kalouda
• Mexico Giovani dos Santos
• Poland Dawid Janczyk
• United States Freddy Adu
• United States Danny Szetela

;2 goals

• Argentina Mauro Zárate
• Austria Rubin Okotie
• Brazil Leandro Lima
• Chile Jaime Grondona
• Chile Mauricio Isla
• Chile Nicolás Medina
• Chile Arturo Vidal
• Gambia Ousman Jallow
• Japan Yasuhito Morishima
• Jordan Abdallah Deeb
• Mexico Pablo Barrera
• Nigeria Ezekiel Bala
• Portugal Bruno Gama
• South Korea Shin Young-rok
• Spain Juan Mata
• Uruguay Edinson Cavani
• Uruguay Luis Suárez
• Zambia Rodgers Kola

;1 goal

• Argentina Claudio Yacob
• Austria Sebastian Prödl
• Brazil Amaral
• Chile Carlos Carmona
• Chile Hans Martínez
• Chile Alexis Sánchez
• Chile Mathías Vidangossy
• Congo Franchel Ibara
• Congo Gracia Ikouma
• Congo Ermejea Ngakosso
• Costa Rica Pablo Herrera
• Costa Rica Jonathan McDonald
• Czech Republic Ondřej Kúdela
• Czech Republic Jakub Mareš
• Czech Republic Tomáš Mičola
• Czech Republic Marek Střeštík
• Gambia Pierre Gomez
• Gambia Abdoulie Mansally
• Japan Jun Aoyama
• Japan Tomoaki Makino
• Japan Atomu Tanaka
• Japan Tsukasa Umesaki
• Jordan Lo'ay Omran
• Mexico Christian Bermúdez
• Mexico Omar Esparza
• Mexico Javier Hernández
• Mexico Héctor Moreno
• Mexico Osmar Mares
• New Zealand Jack Pelter
• Nigeria Chukwuma Akabueze
• Nigeria Elderson Echiéjilé
• Nigeria Brown Ideye
• North Korea Kim Kum-il
• North Korea Jon Kwang-ik
• Panama Nelson Barahona
• Poland Grzegorz Krychowiak
• Portugal Vitorino Antunes
• Portugal Feliciano Condesso
• Scotland Ross Campbell
• Scotland Mark Reynolds
• South Korea Lee Sang-ho
• South Korea Shim Young-sung
• Spain Marquitos
• Spain Alberto Bueno
• Spain Diego Capel
• Spain Javi García
• Spain Gerard Piqué
• Spain Mario Suárez
• United States Michael Bradley
• Zambia Clifford Mulenga
• Zambia William Njobvu
• Zambia Fwayo Tembo

;1 own goal

• Uruguay Mathías Cardaccio (against the United States)

Awards

Source:

Final ranking

Quarter-finals Round of 16 Group stage

Controversies

Nigerian accusations of racism

The quarter-final match between Chile and Nigeria occurred on FIFA's "Say No To Racism Day." During extra time, Chile's Jaime Grondona scored in the 96th minute, but Nigerian players protested that the goal was offside. Despite their appeals, referee Howard Webb allowed the goal to stand, and goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa received a yellow card for dissent. Subsequent replays showed a defender was out of position, confirming the goal was valid.

After the match, Nigerian coach Ladan Bosso accused Webb of racism at a press conference, stating, "The officiating, I think FIFA has a long way to go to beat racism because that official showed racism." When asked directly if he believed Webb was racist, Bosso replied, "It's good for FIFA to bring in the fight against racism, but they have to follow it to the letter so that the implementation will be done." The FIFA Disciplinary Committee found Bosso guilty of "offensive behaviour" under Article 57 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, fining him CHF 11,000 and banning him for four months.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) was also sanctioned for allowing players to wear T-shirts with religious statements under their game jerseys, violating tournament regulations that prohibit "political, religious, commercial, or personal messages" on team kits.

Chilean clash with police

On 19 July, a clash erupted between Chilean players and police following the semi-final match between Chile and Argentina. The Chilean players were furious with referee Wolfgang Stark, claiming he had "lost control of the match early on" and criticizing his issuance of seven yellow cards, two red cards, and the 53 fouls committed during the game. After the match, Chilean players surrounded Stark and his colleagues, prompting members of the Toronto Police Service to intervene. Fearing an attack from the crowd or players, police escorted Stark off the pitch and into the dressing room tunnel.

A brawl then broke out between several Chilean players, team delegates, and police outside Toronto's National Soccer Stadium. According to Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, the altercation began when Chilean players scuffled with a rival fan. He added, "Members of the Chilean team then decided to direct some of their aggressive behaviour towards my officers... The job of my officers was to respond in a firm but fair manner to end that violence. They are trained to do so, and that is what they did."

The Chilean players offered a different account, claiming that Isaías Peralta had approached Chilean fans behind a security fence when about ten police officers stopped him. They alleged that a heated argument ensued, during which Peralta, who does not speak English, was verbally and physically abused by the officers. Peralta was tasered by an officer and lost consciousness for 20 minutes. Other players then struggled with the police before retreating to their bus. Eyewitnesses reported that players on the bus threw objects at police through the windows and tried to grab officers from inside the damaged vehicle. Three minutes later, Harold Mayne-Nicholls, president of the Chilean National Association of Professional Football (ANFP), asked the players to board a different bus. As they exited, police detained them and took them back to the stadium.

FIFA spokesman John Schumacher stated that the players were detained "to de-escalate the situation." Ten team members were held for over three hours and released without charges. The following day, FIFA president Sepp Blatter described the incident as "regrettable" and apologized on behalf of FIFA. The ANFP hired a Toronto-based law firm to pursue legal action against the Toronto police.

The incident made front-page headlines in Chile. The Canadian embassy in Santiago received a bomb threat, and protesters gathered outside holding signs that read, "Racist Canada." Chilean President Michelle Bachelet described the incident as "particularly serious because, in our view, the Chilean delegation suffered unjustified aggression" and lodged a formal protest with the Canadian government. In response, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper remarked, "International soccer matches are hotly contested and often become very emotional. As you know, there are processes in Canada by which the authorities review these kinds of incidents, and I don't intend to comment further."

According to Canadian media, a Chilean team member punched a female police officer in the face before Peralta was tasered. An internal review led by Superintendent Jim Ramer concluded that officers acted professionally and with "an immense amount of restraint." The report stated that Chilean players "punched, kicked, spat on, and kicked" police and security staff. It detailed that the violence began when two individuals unrelated to the game confronted each other, and that a Chilean player then punched a female officer. The violence escalated as players dismantled bus seats, smashing windows to throw objects such as D batteries, clothes hangers, and deodorant cans at police, injuring four officers. FIFA agreed to cover the $35,000 cost of damages to the team's rented bus.

Mayne-Nicholls, who witnessed the incident, stated, "I didn't see any Chilean player hitting any officer except between all the struggling." Patricio Bascuñán, president of the Salvador Allende Cultural Society of Toronto, called for an independent review.

Grondona was suspended for nine months from all levels of play, including domestic and international, and fined CHF 7,000 for assaulting match officials. The Chilean football association was fined CHF 15,000 for "team misconduct."

Notes

References

References

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