Mundial Sub20, otra vez sin permiso (SPA-ENG)

U-20 World Cup, again without permission

There are only a few days left until the U-20 World Cup begins in Chile, our closest neighbor, separated by the Andes mountain range.

For us Argentines, it's always a cause for joy because we've generally been known for fielding excellent teams with very young and talented players who then display their enormous talent on all the world's pitches. Maradona and Messi receive the biggest applause; however, there were others barely overshadowed by the first two: Caniggia, Ramón Díaz, Riquelme, Aimar, Saviola, Agüero, Di María—the list is endless, although one example is enough, as my grandmother would say.

Thanks to that talent that springs from who knows where, we are the top winners in this category with six titles, one ahead of our eternal rival, Brazil, and well above the rest. Next on this prestigious list is Portugal with two titles, followed by several with just one: Uruguay, Spain, Ukraine, England, Ghana, France, Russia, Yugoslavia, and Germany.

Our first star in this U-20 World Cup was in its second edition, in 1979 in Japan, with a well-remembered team featuring Maradona and Ramón Díaz. The final was against the reigning champion, the Soviet Union, which had won its only title two years earlier in Tunisia against Mexico in what was the first edition of this youth World Cup. The Aztecs reached the final for the only time in their history. And since we're talking about Mexico, another team that played in an unprecedented final was Venezuela, which lost to England in 2017. The British thus achieved their only star to date. The venue for that memorable final for our Venezuelan brothers was South Korea.

Argentina's sixth and final World Cup title was won in 2007, in Canada against the Czech Republic. Since then, we haven't reached the final, nor have we even been among the four semifinalists. The reason probably lies in the attitude of European teams in recent years: they don't loan out their young stars for these tournaments. It's not important to them, and they have enough power to make FIFA look the other way.

Another example is Brazil. Despite its inexhaustible youth system and strong domestic championships, it hasn't reached the finals for 10 years; the reasons are identical.

In this upcoming tournament, my country will be without Franco Mastantuono (Real Madrid), Claudio Echeverri (Bayer 04 Leverkusen, on loan from City), Aarón Anselmino (Borussia Dortmund), and Santiago Hidalgo (Toulouse FC), although this has yet to be confirmed. Julio Soler (Bournemouth) and Valentín Carboni (Genoa, on loan from Inter) are also expected to be absent. One player who was initially allowed but has come into doubt in recent days is Tomás Pérez, a promising young Porto player who is already training at the Ezeiza stadium alongside the rest of the squad, but could be called up by the Portuguese club to replace another recently injured player.

Therefore, my country's youth national team will be composed largely of players who play for local teams and who lack the experience or standing of the "foreign" players. In any case, the Argentine player's caliber is well known, and his resilience in overcoming adversity is legendary. These factors sustain our hope for a strong performance, even though we know it will be tough. We're drawn into a difficult, if not impossible, group, along with Italy, Australia, and Cuba. Luckily for us, we avoided the ever-present and infamous "group of death," which this year will be made up of Brazil, Spain, Mexico, and Morocco.

The other regional countries participating in the event are Chile (host), Paraguay, and Colombia. The absence of European giants like Germany, England, and Portugal, the two-time champion in this category, is surprising. However, we know that youth and senior teams are not the same.

I'll be keeping a close eye on developments; we'll see what happens when the ball starts rolling on September 27th.