Teens to the pitch

> Montreal to see its share of action as
Canada hosts FIFA’s U-20 World Cup

YOUNG CANUCK GUNS: Team Canada

by A.J. KINIK

Odd-numbered years, you can feel the collective hangover all across the city. Without any Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup or Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) European Cup action to look forward to, Montreal’s legions of soccer fanatics are left to stumble around in a state of malaise. Sure, there’s Montreal Impact action at the Claude-Robillard Sports Complex, and there’s also the occasional international-level qualifying match to catch on TV or at a café, but the buzz just ain’t the same. The city’s parks and other green spaces are still filled to the brim with amateur league matches and countless pick-up games, but somehow they don’t seem nearly as inspired as they do on other years.

This year’s different, though. Not many people keep close tabs on FIFA’s junior World Cups, but everything changes when one of those tournaments, the FIFA under-20 World Cup, takes place right here in Canada. And it’s even better when Montreal is just one of six host cities, along with Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, Burnaby and Victoria. For the first time ever, Canada is hosting a soccer tournament of international stature, and if the event lives up to expectations, this year’s U-20 World Cup (June 30–July 22) may end up being the single biggest sporting event in Canadian history. How big? Well, the tournament’s official tag line is, “It’s gonna be huge!” ’Nuff said.

Home to Group D

Montreal isn’t the tournament’s number one host city—that honour went to Toronto, with its brand-spanking-new BMO Field, the soccer-specific stadium that was built to play home to Toronto FC of the Major League Soccer and to serve as the Canadian national soccer complex. But Montreal is one of the tournament’s top four cities, and as such it gets to host one round-of-16 match (July 12) and one quarterfinal match (July 15) in addition to its six qualifying round matches (June 30–July 6).

The match-ups for the two late-stage games are still a long way off from being determined, of course, but the Olympic Stadium will act as base for Group D, which consists of the United States, South Korea, Poland and the ever-popular and ever-dominant Brazil. In addition, Montreal gets one Group E match on July 6—the Czech Republic versus Panama—and one Group C match on July 8—Portugal vs. Gambia.

Brazil’s entertaining brand of play—with its brilliant flourishes and its “samba-like” rhythm—will ensure that both of its Group D matches are among the hottest tickets in town. Ottawa gets to host Brazil’s sure-to-be-closely-watched match with Team USA, but, if Dawid Janczyk has his way, its toughest qualifier could very well be its opening match against Poland on Saturday, June 30. Janczyk is the 19-year-old Polish striker whose build and uncanny ability to make the net ripple have him dubbed “the Polish Wayne Rooney.”

The Olympic Stadium will most likely be a sea of green and gold on game day, but Andrzej Malinowski, of the West Island’s Klub Sportowy Arka—Montreal’s Polish soccer club—has been busy trying to mobilize Montreal’s 37,000-strong Polish community. Not only has he sold a block of 500 tickets to the Brazil-Poland game, but he’s also hosting an exhibition match between the Polish national team and a squad of Polish ringers from Hamilton in Longueuil on Tuesday, June 26.

Football family

Not to be outdone, Montreal’s Portuguese community is eagerly awaiting the opportunity to catch their U-20 squad against Gambia on Sunday, July 8. Leading the charge has been Fernando Sa of the Plateau’s Sa & Fils grocery store, which managed to sell over 2,200 tickets in five weeks. Explaining the Portuguese community’s enthusiasm for these big soccer tournaments, Sa puts it simply: “This is a party for us. When it comes to soccer, we’re all friends, all family. We’re very united.”

But with the Portuguese national soccer team currently in a post-Luis Figo transitional phase, he also stresses that the local community is very eager to see what the next generation of stars looks like. With soccer quite nearly religion among the Portuguese, it’s fitting that their very own pre-U-20 warm-up event—including a giant, inflatable FIFA soccer ball, a fussball tournament and a jumbo screen featuring clips of past Portuguese soccer greats—is taking place in the parking lot of Church Santa Clara, the central Portuguese church at Rachel and St-Urbain on Friday, June 8.