beating Sagan Tosu of Japan 3-1
in the Final.
COLOMBIA: Carlos Queiroz is
appointed national coach, with the
Portuguese becoming Colombia’s
first European boss in 40 years.
ENGLAND: Police confirm that a
body recovered from the wreckage
of a crashed plane is that of Cardiff
City player Emiliano Sala.
UEFA: Aleksander Ceferin is re-
elected unopposed as president of
European football’s governing body.
Friday February 8
BRAZIL: Ten people die as a fire
engulfs a dormitory at Ninho de
Urubu, the youth-team training
base of Flamengo.
Saturday February 9
ECUADOR: The new season starts,
with defending champions LDU
Quito beating Olmedo 3-2.
GERMANY: Robert Lewandowski
scores his 100th Allianz Arena goal
for Bayern Munich as they beat
Schalke 3-1.
SOUTH AFRICA: Orlando Pirates
stretch their unbeaten run against
Kaizer Chiefs to 12 games with a
1-1 draw.
SPAIN: Real Madrid win 3-1 at
Atletico Madrid to leapfrog theirlocal rivals and go second, behind
Barcelona, in La Liga.
Sunday February 10
EGYPT: Ismaily are reinstated in the
CAF Champions League following a
successful appeal against their
earlier expulsion.
ENGLAND: Chelsea suffer their
heaviest defeat since 1991, losing
6-0 at Manchester City.
ITALY: Cristiano Ronaldo scores his
20th goal for Juventus goal as they
win 3-0 at Sassuolo to go 11 points
clear at the top of Serie A.
PORTUGAL: Benfica beat Nacional
10-0 and are the first team to getdouble figures in a Portuguese
top-flight game since 1965.
SPAIN: Barcelona fail to score in
the league for the first time in 38
games as they draw 0-0 away at
Athletic Bilbao.
Monday February 11
BRAZIL: Three days after tragedy
struck Flamengo, a fire where
fellow Rio de Janeiro side Bangu
are training puts two players in
hospital with smoke inhalation.
ENGLAND: Paul Scholes resigns as
director of non-league Salford City- but retains his 10 per cent share
in the club – to become manager
WORLD SERVICEalmost all the teams also had important players missing
for one reason or another.
Much of South America has been quick to see the
importance of the under-20s as a conveyor belt to the
senior ranks. Countries have invested time and money
in preparation, and the results were clear at this year’s
tournament. While there may have been little in the
way of sparkling, attacking football, the defending- both in terms of collective organisation and of
individual quality – was impressive. Teams have
become harder to beat.
Uruguay in their highly successful youth-
development work make a point of trying to identify
players with the speed of movement, thought and
technical execution to survive in top-level football. In
other words, they are not aiming to produce players
for their domestic game.
Brazil, meanwhile, appear to have stood still and
their current under-20 team is full of the vices of the
country’s contemporary club game. In particular, the
team features a pair of gangling centre-backs who offer
little construction from deep, necessitating a holding
midfielder to sit in front and protect. The fluidity of the
passing movements is therefore immediately restricted.
This is a common feature of Brazilian club football – as
is the presence, in wide attacking areas, of some whose
only thought is to charge forward in a straight line.
With Brazil missing out, South America's
representatives in Poland at the World Cup in May
will be continental champions Ecuador, runners-up
Argentina, and Uruguay and Colombia, who finished
third and fourth respectively.
Champions
...Ecuador