The 2015 edition of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup kicked off in New Zealand on Saturday, with 24 teams competing for glory. Paul Pogba of Juventus was the star player of 2013 edition in Turkey, and this time out there is plenty of promising young talents hoping to impress at the soccer carnival.
The tournament provides the platform for genuine opportunity to discover tomorrow’s stars.
Football scouts are in New Zealand, where the latest edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup is set to taking place to shop for new discoveries.
France are the tournament’s reigning champions, though they won’t be able to defend their crown after failing to qualify. But there are more traditional giants Brazil and Argentina who have won the title five- and six-time respectively.
From Argentina, the likes of Diego Maradona, Javier Saviola, Lionel Messi and Sergio Agüero are all list of stars discovered from this stage. Aa more recent example, current Champions League finalist Paul Pogba was the best player when he led France to glory two years ago.
Here are five stars to look out for in New Zealand
Hirving Lozano
Mexico’s most exciting attacking player at this tournament is 19-year-old Hirving Lozano, who has been a regular in the Pachuca side for the last couple of seasons. Over the last two half-season tournaments, Lozano has appeared in 33 Liga MX games, which is no small feat for a player so young.
He’s a dynamic attacker, most accustomed to playing on the wing, but with composure in front of goal that has seen him score seven times in the league in those seasons. He’s quick and loves to run at defenders, and he should be able to make his added first-team experience count in New Zealand.
Andreas Pereira
Manchester United fans have no idea just how good Pereira could become, but the prospect of losing him on a free transfer to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer was enough for them to breathe heavy sighs of relief upon his contract renewal earlier in the month. After all, having lost Pogba to Juventus on a free transfer. As it is, the Belgian-born midfielder looks like a neat prospect indeed, having starred in an attacking midfield role for the Reds’ reserves and impressing sufficiently enough to make his Premier League debut from the bench in March. With exceptional close control and an eye for the killer pass, he could be the jewel of this Brazil team.
Diego Poyet
Poyet was born in Zaragoza when his father Gus was leading their local team to some of the finest moments in the club’s history, though he speaks classic Estuary English after having spent his formative years in London. Despite having played for England as a schoolboy, the midfielder was elected to play for the country of his father, Uruguay, and made his debut at the U-20 level back in March. Domestically, he’s not yet established himself as a Premier League regular after moving to West Ham United last summer, though was named Player of the Year at Championship club Charlton for 2013-14, and certainly seems ready for a breakout season. Tough in the tackle and precise in the pass, Uruguay will be expecting him to boss the midfield here.
Kelechi Iheanacho
It would be suicidal not to mention the young enterprising Nigerian player that plays for Premier League side Manchester City, with his U-17 team having romped to a fourth World Cup title back in 2013.
Many of those players will look to continue their impressive run through the youth ranks at this tournament, though special focus will be on young attacker Iheanacho, who won the Golden Ball in Abu Dhabi two years ago.
Since then he has earned a move to Manchester City, where he’s scored four times in five games for their reserves. Iheanacho is regarded as Africa’s top young talent, and will be looking to deliver on the promise with plenty of goals in New Zealand.
Giovanni Simeone
The 19-year-old River Plate striker is the son of former Argentina star and current Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone. His career has been shaped to a large degree by his father’s fame. He was born in Madrid when Diego was playing for Atletico and moved to Italy when his father joined Internazionale and later Lazio. He moved to Argentina in 2005 where Diego ended his playing career with Racing before joining the managerial ranks with Estudientes, then River Plate. Giovanni joined the River Plate youth program in 2008 and made his league debut in 2013. Simeone was the leading scorer with nine goals in this year’s South American Under-20 Championship, which was won by Argentina.
Anthony Nlebem
@AnthonyNlebem
