Tomorrow kicks off the FIFA Under 20 World Cup, being held here in Canada.

Six different venues – Toronto, Edmonton (Alberta), Burnaby (B.C.), Victoria (B.C.), Montreal and Ottawa.

The UK is represented by one team only – the Scots, while North America has five teams, including Canada, U.S.A.and Mexico, though I believe Canada is in because they’re the hosts. My ultimate final would be Scotland v Canada – a girl can dream. Of course, then I wouldn’t know who to root for, though my cousin’s son will be playing for Scotland, so nepotism might win out.

Altogether there are 24 teams vying for the title.

http://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/qualifiers/index.html

First match at BMO field is on July 1 – Canada v. Chile, though there are some games being played at other venues on June 30th. I just hope the T.O. fans can keep the rowdiness to a minimum.

http://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/matches/index.html

Look forward to seeing some good young players. GOOD LUCK EVERYONE.

Wow looks like a great tournament. Unfortunately the English have a funny "gap" at under 20 level. We really only have an Under 19 and Under 21 - although occasionally they have put together an Under 20 team for games.
I suppose they haven't entered this year because the Under 21's have just competed in the European Championships...... and I know some of that squad are also the same players who would play in the Under 20's!

Best of luck to everyone. Will root for Scotland - followed by Canada!

Yeah, looks like a good tournament. Hope Scotland do well. Are you going to any of the matches, aj? I noticed some were in Toronto.

"GOOD LUCK SCOTLAND (AND AJ'S COUSIN'S SON)! REMEMBER IT'S OKAY TO BREAK WITH TRADITION BY NOT COMING LAST!"

And I'd better say "Good Luck to Canada" as well or I'll get even more abuse from aj57.

P.S. Good thing your cousin wasn't flying out from Glasgow today. There was an amatuerish (but well planned) car attack on the airport this afternoon. No-one was hurt but all flights have been suspended.

ETA (below) - Yes, "second cousin" = a child of one's first cousin

My copy and paste isn't working again, but yeah cass I'll be seeing some of the games in t.o. Unfortunately, Scotland is playing in bloody B.C. - just the complete other side of the country. And after the first game in T.O., Canada is playing in Edmonton. However, if they make it far enough, the last four teams still alive will be playing in T.O. So, fingers crossed.

Right now I'm watching Poland vs Brazil from the Olympic Stadium in Montreal on tv. A vocal crowd of 50,000. Not bad, eh. I really think soccer (football) has arrived in Canada.

cassandra (copy and paste working again)

Oh ye of little faith. btw is your cousin's son your second cousin?

I saw the Glasgow Airport thing on TV - scary stuff.

eta - poland just scored from a set piece; 1-0 23 minutes into the match. Lots of Polish fans in the stands by the sound of it.

Just tuning in to watch Scotland v Japan in Victoria, B.C. in front of a sold out crowd of just over 14,000.

Cassandra - if you read this, what's Scotland's national anthem? It certainly wasn't God Save the Queen they played.

"Flower of Scotland" has been unoffically adopted as the national anthem. Least I think it's still unofficial. Used to be sung at rugby matches and sort of became the national anthem there. Seems to have been adopted by most other sports now. Some people consider it a little controversial and anti-English.

"Flower O' Scotland

O Flower of Scotland,
When will we see your like again
That fought and died for
Your wee bit hill and glen?
And stood against him,
Proud Edward's army,
And sent him homeward,
Tae think again!

The hills are bare now,
And autumn leaves lie thick and still
O'er land that is lost now,
Which those so dearly held.
That stood against him,
Proud Edward's army
And sent him homeward
Tae think again!

Those days are past now,
And in the past they must remain.
But we can still rise now
And be the nation again!
That stood against him
Proud Edward's army
And sent him homeward
Tae think again!

O Flower of Scotland,
When will we see your like again
That fought and died for
Your wee bit hill and glen?
And stood against him,
Proud Edward's army,
And sent him homeward
Tae think again!"

Hey the lady did ask! Just in case you wanted to join in! Enjoy the match,aj. Good luck to your second cousin (and the first one as well)! Fingers crossed that they do well. I'll try and be optimistic for a change.

P.S. This wasn't another of your "Are you really from Scotland" questions, was it? :huh:

P.P.S I assume T.O. is Toronto?

I'm watching Scotland v Nigeria live at 10:50 p.m. T.O. time since it's being played in B.C. There are three channels showing all the different games, and for whatever reason the channel showing the Scotland game is Telelatino, so I'm having to watch it in Italian!!! The commentator sounds distinctly Italian until he pronounces the names of the players - too funny.

T.O. = Toronto, Ontario

The Scottish national anthem isn't doing us much bloody good. Another loss (2-0 to Nigeria) has really put them behind the 8 ball. Not much chance of advancing now. For a team that had so many good wins in the qualifying, their lacklustre performance here is disheartening.

Canada lost again too. 1-0 to Austria. But not as disappointing as the Scots.

Went to see an actual game at BMO field yesterday. Lovely afternoon. Gambia vs New Zealand - both teams looking for their first win. Gambia won 1-0 and were value for the win. It was a double-header with Mexico playing Portugal in the second match. Both coming off wins. Mexico came out ahead 2-0.

Being the cheap Scot that I am, our family has a pair of tickets for most of the T.O. games, but we take turns going to the games. So, for the Gambia/NZ match that started at 5:00 p.m., my daughter and I went. Then for the second game, which was on the same ticket, we left the stadium and handed over our tickets to my son and his dad. They got the better deal, with the stronger teams playing.

On Sunday, I get to go see Austria v Chile. Should be good - Austria has two wins and Chile has a win and a tie.

There are some fine young players out there.

Sorry to hear the Scots are not doing so well. *************************** <---- I've censored out the disparaging comment I made afterwards.

:rofl They don't call us canny for nothing!

Enjoy the rest of the matches. Least they haven't been rained off like Wimbledon.

Do or die for Canada tonight....

Not sure which game is being played in TO tonight, since Canada is playing in Edmonton, but the old neighborhood is jumpin'. Between this weekend's Grand Prix race closing off the Lakeshore (won by an Aussie, so congratulations), a baseball game downtown and the football, traffic is a right nightmare and the rain cannot be helping.

Ah summer...

I'm just back in from the game in T.O. - it was Chile v Austria. No doubt, it was the Chile fans making the most noise. Both teams were undefeated coming into the match and it ended in a nil-nil tie. Luckily the rain was off by the time we arrived at the stadium. Another sold out crowd though. A friendly atmosphere in the stands, even though beer is freely available ($8.50 for the equivalent of a regular sized can). It was a very enjoyable match to watch, even though it ended up scoreless.

We were smart tonight, took the Go Train.

Got home to hear Canada lost to Congo 2-0, so both my teams are out. (I stayed up til 1:00 a.m. yesterday to watch Scotland lose 2-1 to Costa Rica, this time in Spanish on TLN - fyi Scotland is pronounced Scotya in Spanish).

However, there are a lot of good teams left and lots of good soccer to see.

Mexico on paper look like the team to beat, with 9 points going into the second round. However, there are six teams with 7 points, including the U.S.

It's straight knock out now.

We have a pair of tickets to the finals - first match playing for third place, second match for the Cup. I'm sure I'll end up at the first match.

Hey thats a real shame that Canada and Scotland didn't make it, aj. Sounds like a good atmosphere at the matches anyway.

Enjoy the "first" match or rather your "last" match. :)

P.S. Whats a GO train? Is that a special Torornto train .... for special Torornto people? Or it is that the main Canadian service?

Hi Cass - a Go train is a commuter train primarily. GO actually stands for Government of Ontario, who I guess run the trains. You can go from as far as 50 miles east of Toronto along the lakeshore to 50 miles or so west of Toronto. They also have north south routes. All routes going through the main station in Toronto, which is right downtown. One thing they don't have that I found on a commuter type train we took from Glasgow to Edinburgh last year is a tea trolley!

Oi, you've misspelled Toronto!

Just finished watching the Chile/Portugal game on tv. The last five minutes were bizarre to say the least.

A Portugal player unceremoniously pushed a Chilean player in the back after play had stopped. That player got a red card. Then while the ref was holding up that red card, another Portuguese player grabbed the red card out of his hand, so he got a red card. So, two Portuguese players sent off. Shortly after that, they stopped play to count the number of players on the field, someone thinking there were too many Portuguese players on the field – there weren’t.

Then a Chilean player got a yellow card for delay of game. It was his second yellow card and he got a red card. When he got the red card, he tried to run towards the ref. Luckily, his teammates got to him before he got to the ref.

Ah, the exuberance of youth.

btw Chile ended up winning 1-0.

Quarter finals are now established:

US v Austria, playing July 14/07 in Toronto

Spain v Czech Republic - July 14/07 in Edmonton

Chile v Nigeria - July 15/07 in Montreal

Argentina v Mexico July 15/07 in Ottawa (that’s the match to watch)

Thought I’d post a piccie of BMO stadium taken at the Chile/Austria game, showing a view of the downtown skyline in the background.

Hey nice pic aj!

And from the tall pointy rocket thingy in the middle I actually recognise it as Toronto (spelled correctly this time). Calm down aj. Yes I do know by now that it's the CN tower. See how educational this site is?

I take it you're not going to the US v Austria match at all? Or did you mean that you've also got tickets for the final? Enjoy the match(es) tonight. And tomorrow night as well.

The SFA have decided to hold an inquest into the Scots performance. I haven't bothered posting you a link to the article as it doesn't tell you anything at all apart from the headline but it's on the same site as those other links I gave you.

P.S. Are GO trains quite reliable or do they ever not GO! Just asking! I could just imagine the derision in the UK if our trains were called GO!! I take it that GO is short for GO Transit - just found it in Wiki.

Just finished watching Chile v Argentina on tv from BMO field. The players still trying to intimidate the refs. A lot of fine acting as well. Final result 3-0 for Argentina, so they'll be playing the Czech Republic in the final in T.O. on Sunday.

I've been relegated to watch the playoff for third place between Chile and Austria (the pairing I saw the last time I was at BMO field).

The GO train is fairly reliable. There can be delays in winter when some of the switches can freeze.

GO = Government of Ontario, as far as I can remember.

I watched both semi finals. I thought the ARG v CHIL match was pretty ordinary, also I'm not a fan of artificial turf.
Also Socceroos v Japan tomorrow in the Asian Cup.
Go the Socceroos :soccer

Liverpoolkiss:

Sorry to see the Socceroos knocked out in a penalty shootout with Japan in the Asian Cup.

While you may have thought the match between Argentina and Chile was pretty ordinary, what happened afterwards has resulted in an international incident, with the President of Chile weighing in and the Chilean foreign minister sending a formal complaint to our foreign minister at the way the police handled matters.

However, the playoff for third place between Chile and Austria today was relatively uneventful, with Chile winning 1-0.

The final between Czech Republic and Argentina was pretty enjoyable, with a beautiful goal by the Czech player in the 59th minute, followed within seconds, it seems, by an Argentinian goal and a final Argentinian goal in the dying minutes, with defending champs Argentina winning 2-1.

It was a beautiful day for soccer.

Sorry if you don't like the artificial turf. We're just glad to have any soccer in Toronto. And I have to say the new Toronto team has had a very successful inaugural season, with virtually every home game sold out.