From the man behind the football king to the football king

With the announcement of the top 16, the top eight matches have also been determined.

According to the rules of the World Youth Championship, Spain, France, Nigeria, South Korea, Colombia, Iraq, Mexico, and Paraguay are divided into the top half, while Ghana, Portugal, Turkey, Greece, Chile, Croatia, Uruguay, and Uzbekistan are divided into Lower half.

After the quarter-finals, quarter-finals, and semi-finals, there is only one team left in the upper and lower half, and it will be up to these two teams to compete for the final championship. The two losers in the semi-finals will compete for third or fourth place.

According to the rules, it is impossible for the teams in the top half to meet the teams in the bottom half before the finals.

To be honest, Bruno was a little confused about the rules of the World Youth Championship, because he discovered that Paraguay, the first in Group D, actually faced Iraq, the first in Group E, in the quarter-finals.

For this division, many people believe that the first half can be called the half of death. The first and second favorites Spain and France are both here, as well as South American champion Colombia, Central and North American champion Mexico, and Asian champion South Korea. , and the other three teams, Greece is the runner-up of the European Youth Championship, and Iraq is the runner-up of the Asian Youth Championship. Moreover, 4 of the 6 first place teams in the group stage are in the top half.

The second half is much inferior. There is no champion from any continent, and only Portugal and Croatia are ranked first in the group.

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After getting a very ideal division, coupled with Portugal's strong performance in the three group matches, major betting companies have increased Portugal's winning odds.

In the group stage, there are only two teams that have won all the games. One is Spain, which has been invincible in football in the past few years. Their youth team is also very strong. Not only did they win the European Youth Championship last year, but they also won the World Youth Championship this time. In the group stage of the tournament, in Group A, known as the "Group of Death", they also swept three opponents: France, the United States and Ghana.

The other one is the youth army of Portugal, another country on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal, which had just won the Toulon Cup, continued their good form and scored 12 goals in three group matches, almost twice as many as Spain (7 goals), which scored the second most goals. Bruma and Aladegui The two players occupy the top two in the World Youth Championship's scorer list, and Bruno ranks first in the World Youth Championship's assists list, which can be said to be explosive.

Such performance naturally makes all parties very optimistic about them.

The only thing that causes some concern is Portugal's defense. They conceded 4 goals in the three group matches. Among the 16 teams that entered the knockout rounds, they are only less than South Korea, which conceded 6 goals, and Ghana and Uzbekistan, which conceded 5 goals.

Before the start of the World Youth Championship, Portugal's winning odds among the 24 participating teams were basically ranked sixth to seventh. However, after advancing to the finals with an undefeated record, major gambling companies, including William Hill, adjusted Portugal's winning odds, which ranked third after Spain and France.

In the eyes of these betting companies, even if Portugal can win from the bottom half, facing the winners of the top half, Spain or France, Portugal, whose defense is unstable, has a very small chance of winning.

After all, the strength of Spain and France is comprehensive: in the group stage, Spain scored 7 goals, ranking second, and conceded 2 goals, the team with the third fewest goals conceded; while the French team conceded the same number of goals as Portugal , but their opponent in the group stage is the invincible Spain, otherwise they would not have conceded so many goals.

In a big competition, a team with good defense has a higher chance of winning the championship. This is the consensus of almost everyone!

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On the afternoon of July 2, the quarter-finals of the World Youth Championship officially started.

In the first two games, Spain, the favorite to win the championship, showed great strength when being blitzed by the CONCACAF champion Mexico in the opening game. It scored two goals in the second half and reversed its opponent 2:1 to advance to the quarterfinals. .

In another game, Uzbekistan was upset. They unexpectedly beat the European Youth Championship runner-up Greece with a score of 3:1 and grabbed a ticket to the quarterfinals.

Subsequently, Uruguay defeated the host Turkey 2:1 in a fierce battle, blocking the host country from the quarterfinals. The French team showed strong strength and swept Nigeria with a score of 4:1.

This game allowed the world to witness the power of the Gallic Chicks, and also allowed the world to understand why they were able to overtake Portugal, which had completely won the group, in the odds list and occupy the second position.

After all, in the previous Toulon Cup, Nigeria only lost to Portugal with a score of 1:2; and in the group stage of the World Youth Championship, they even fought with Portugal to a score of 2:3.

In both games, Portugal had a very difficult time winning.

However, after facing France, they lost miserably with a score of 1:4.

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Portugal's quarter-finals will start at 5pm on July 3 at the Kadir Stadium in Kayseri.

Continuing to stay in Kayseri is good news for Portugal because it saves the players from traveling.

However, Portugal does not have an advantage in this regard, because their opponent Ghana has also been camping in Kayseri from the third round of the group stage.

Perhaps, this is the arrangement of the event organizers. Because before the start of the third game of the group stage, the match between Ghana and their opponent, the United States, was held at the Cadir Stadium in Kayseri, and no matter who among them advanced, their opponent would be Portugal, which ranked first in Group B.

As a result, African Black Star had the last laugh.

This is the sixth time in Ghana’s history that they have participated in the World Youth Championship. They advanced as runners-up of the African Youth Cup of Nations.

In the past five participations, the Ghanaians have reached the finals three times, including defeating Brazil U20 in a penalty shootout to win the championship for the first time in 2009. At that time, they defeated Uruguay U20 in the group stage to qualify first.

Their head coach TEDA has coached Ghana's youth teams at all levels and is familiar with the characteristics of the players in the team. He also led the team to win the runner-up in the African Youth Cup of Nations this spring.

Although Ghana U20 missed the last tournament, it has reaffirmed its strength in the U20 African Cup of Nations, but lost to Egypt U20 in a penalty shootout in the final.

There are many new star players in the Ghana team that have been noticed by scouts. For example, their No. 7 Achim Peng is known as the Messi of Ghana. He is a fast winger with strong breakthrough ability. In 2011, Achim Peng joined Buriram United in the Thai Super League and left a deep impression on fans in the AFC Champions League. At present, Achim Peng has joined the Belgian giant Anderlecht.

Another forward in the Ghana team, Richmond Boakye, is an old acquaintance of Bruno. He is the main forward of Sassuolo in Serie B. He scored 11 goals in the season that just ended. His ability It should not be underestimated either.

It is said that Boakye is already interested in Serie A giant Juventus, and many media have reported that he is about to join Juventus.

Ghana midfielder Alfred Duncan is also a well-known talent in European football. He was born in the Inter Milan youth training camp and entered the Inter Milan first team in the 2011-2012 season. Although he failed to gain a foothold, But after joining Livorno in this year's winter transfer window, he performed well. When Bruno played against Livorno, I saw his defensive skills.

Of course, Bruno feels that the most important thing to note is that Ghana U20 has played 5 times in the past. During this period, it has never been eliminated in the group stage. It can at least be among the top 4. This reflects that Ghana’s young players are relatively precocious and have advantages in size and speed. Become the strongest weapon to compete for the championship.