2001 WORLD YOUTH CUP

Preview

The World Youth Cup in 2001 was the thirteenth edition of the tournament and was held in Argentina who have recently been performing well in the championships. There are six groups of four teams in the Under-20 tournament and it featured many of the stars who may go onto become international stars in the future.

History

Both Argentina and Brazil have one three titles to be the two best teams in the tournament's history. The previous results in the final are:

Tournament

The favourites such as Argentina and Brazil dominated their groups with three wins from three games. The European champions France could only manage second place in their group behind Ghana. The surprise team was Costa Rica who also managed to win all their games with Winston Parks starring with four goals. The matches included some large wins with Argentina winning 7-1 over Egypt and Brazil winning6-1 over Iran. In the second round group winners such as Costa Rica, Angola and Ukraine all lost. France had a tight match with a 3-2 win over Germany. The quarter-finals featured a surprise win for Ghana over Brazil in extra-time. The other good match was a 3-1 win for Argentina over France. Paraguay and Egypt also qualified for the semi-finals. There was an all-African semi-final with Ghana beating Egypt and an all-South American semi-final with Argentina beating Paraguay. The final was between Argentina and Ghana, with Argentina, the hosts winning 3-0 to win the World Youth Cup. A full list of results are shown below:

Group Stage

Group A

17/6 Argentina            2-0 Finland

17/6 Egypt                 0-0 Jamaica

20/6 Jamaica              0-1 Finland

20/6 Egypt                 1-7 Argentina

23/6 Argentina           5-1 Jamaica

23/6 Finland               1-2 Egypt

Group B

17/6 Brazil                 2-0 Germany

17/6 Iraq                   3-0 Canada

20/6 Canada              0-4 Germany

20/6 Iraq                   1-6 Brazil

23/6 Brazil                 2-0 Canada

23/6 Germany            3-1 Iraq

Group C

17/6 USA                  0-1 China

17/6 Chile                  2-4 Ukraine

20/6 Ukraine              0-0 China

20/6 Chile                  1-4 USA

23/6 USA                  1-1 Ukraine

23/6 China                 0-1 Chile

Group D

18/6 Angola               0-0 Czech Republic

18/6 Japan                 0-2 Australia

21/6 Australia            0-3 Czech Republic

21/6 Japan                 1-2 Angola

24/6 Angola               1-1 Australia

24/6 Czech Republic  0-3 Japan

Group E

18/6 Ecuador             2-1 Ethiopia

18/6 Netherlands       1-3 Costa Rica

21/6 Costa Rica         3-1 Ethiopia

21/6 Netherlands       1-1 Ecuador

24/6 Ecuador             0-1 Costa Rica

24/6 Ethiopia              2-3 Netherlands

Group F

18/6 Ghana                2-1 Paraguay

18/6 Iran                    0-5 France

21/6 France               2-2 Paraguay

21/6 Iran                    0-1 Ghana

24/6 Ghana                0-0 France

24/6 Paraguay            2-0 Iran

Second Round

27/6 USA                  0-2 Egypt

27/6 Argentina           2-1 China

27/6 France               3-2 Germany

27/6 Brazil                 4-0 Australia

28/6 Ukraine             1-2 Paraguay

28/6 Angola               0-2 Netherlands

28/6 Costa Rica         1-2 Czech Republic

28/6 Ghana                1-0 Ecuador

Quarter Finals                           

  1/7 Argentina           3-1 France

  1/7 Ghana                2-1 Brazil

  1/7 Czech Republic  0-1 Paraguay

  1/7 Netherlands       1-2 Egypt

Semi Finals

  4/7 Egypt                 0-2 Ghana

  4/7 Argentina           5-0 Paraguay

Third Place Play-Off

  8/7 Paraguay           0-1 Egypt           

Final

  8/7 Argentina          3-0 Ghana

Overall

There were some good individual performances. Javier Saviola of Argentina breaking Adailton's record of ten goals, by scoring eleven and was named the Player of the Tournament. His teamamates D'Allesandro and Romagnoli also played well in the midfield. Djibril Cisse scored six goals to carry France to the quarter-finals. Mohammed El Yamany played well to scored four goals and also Derek Boateng was another star performer, helping Ghana to the final.

Awards

Golden Ball-                Javier Saviola (Argentina)

Silver Ball-                  Andres D'Alessandro (Argentina)

Bronze Ball-                Djibril Cisse (France)

FIFA Fair Play Prize-  Argentina

Top Goalscorer

Golden Shoe

11 - Javier Saviola             - Argentina

Silver Shoe

  6 - Adriano                     - Brazil

Bronze Shoe

  6 - Djibril Cisse               - France

  5 - Robert                       - Brazil

  5 - Benjamin Auer           - Germany

  4 - Maximiliano Rodriguez- Argentina

  4 - Winston Parks            - Costa Rica

  4 - Mohammed El Yamany- Egypt

  3 - Esteban Herrera          - Argentina

  3 - Olekcii Byelik             - Ukraine

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