The jewels of the Under 20 World Cup: youngsters with a future who have already signed million-dollar contracts

Just as in 2001 Derek Boateng, Djibril Cissé, Maxi Rodríguez or Javier Saviola appeared internationally, 22 years later, the Sub 20 World Cup that the president of the AFA, Claudio Tapia, slapped FIFA on the hour, will also have a crack or promises of cracks from various countries around the world who will play in Argentine stadiums.

It is difficult to predict the careers of footballers because it does not depend on a single factor, but on multiple ones. However, there are some promising signs since they made their debut in the First Division or made their first leaps in professionalism: either in the countries where they were born and trained, or in the countries to which they emigrated.

Latin America, in fact, specializes in this: training and exporting. The teams of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay know this perfectly, and also that of the Dominican Republic, which has Derek Cuevas among those called up, a fast and dribbling left winger who was hired by Barcelona in July 2022.

Cuevas is a candidate to be one of the figures, although ahead of him -due to the specific weight of the teams- he has two Brazilians: Andrey Santos -the new Casemiro from Brazil, a midfielder with a good shot, he already bought for Chelsea- and Matheus Martins, an exquisite striker who has already been signed by Udinese, from Italy, and on loan to Watford, from England, until the end of the season. Also a Uruguayan like Álvaro Rodríguez, who chose to wear the Celeste and not the Spanish shirt. As happens with so many Argentines, Rodríguez grew up in Spain and has already made his debut for Real Madrid. In fact, at 18 years and 226 days, he became the youngest player to score a goal in a derby between Real and Atlético de Madrid this year. Other young South American promises are the Colombian Gustavo Puerta, from Nuremberg of the second German team, and the Ecuadorian Kendry Páez, from Independiente del Valle, but with the horizon in Chelsea.

Facundo Buonanotte, who emerged in Rosario Central and now in Brighton in England; and Máximo Perrone, sold from Vélez to Manchester City, are the Argentines who receive the most attention among those who will see Mascherano’s National Team, who did very badly in the South American, but who finally entered due to Tapia’s audacity when the FIFA took the organization away from Indonesia.

Africa and Asia are experiencing a process similar to that of Latin America. And the most eloquent proof of that is in Taichi Fukui, from Japan, who Bayern Munich “had caught the attention of at all times”, and that’s why he hired him at the age of 18. Or the Nigerian Victor Eletu, the figure of his team and who traveled from his hometown, Lagos, to play for Milan.

Europe doesn’t just buy. He will also put the magnifying glass on two of the possible figures of this World Cup: the unbalancing Italian Simone Pafundi and the Frenchman Malamine Efekele, whom in his country he will define as “the new Kylian Mbappé” and who will already work on a very high exit clause with Monaco by a Real Madrid poll.

Scandal and complaint to the Iraqi squad

The Iraqi delegation that arrived in Argentina to play in the Under 20 World Cup was left in the eye of the storm when a case of alleged sexual abuse of an employee of the Dazzler hotel in La Plata, where that team is staying, was learned, in addition to excesses and damage to the facilities of the place.

The scandal provoked the intervention of the authorities of the Buenos Aires Ministry of Security, personnel from the consulate and FIFA, because the woman reported that they had “touched an intimate part”.

As explained by the alleged victim, one of the Iraqi players would be the protagonist of the event, but there were no arrests, while the hotel employees revealed other improper behavior on the part of the Iraqis, such as walking through the corridors and receiving the reception in underwear. , activate the hotel’s fire alarm system and break an elevator due to being overweight. In addition, from security they confirmed mistreatment by members of the delegation to one of the translators. Everything that happened ended with the Local Organizing Committee and the AFA requesting a report on the case.