World Cup Attracts a Youth Movement
They are the young ones, the stars of tomorrow, about to shine for the first time.
There are 11 of them, enough for a team. Eleven out of 736 players. Six are from Europe, three are from South America, one is from North America and one is from Africa.
What they have in common -- beyond unquestioned soccer skill -- is their youth.
They are the teenagers of the 2006 World Cup.
Lionel Messi, the kid from Argentina who plays for FC Barcelona in Spain, and Cesc Fabregas, the kid from Spain who plays for Arsenal in England, already are known worldwide.
Theo Walcott, also of Arsenal and now England, sprang out of nowhere and into the headlines only last month.
The other eight are waiting to make their mark.
It is not always a risk taking teens to a tournament of this caliber. Pele led the way as far back as 1958 when, as a 17-year-old in Sweden, his goals helped propel Brazil to the first of its five world championships.
Forty years later, Michael Owen of England scored a memorable goal against Argentina at the France ’98 World Cup, when he went on a surging run through the middle of the South Americans’ defense and finished it with a tremendous shot.
Owen was 18 at the time.
Diego Armando Maradona might have put himself in the World Cup record books as a teen, but Cesar Luis Menotti, the chain-smoking coach of Argentina when it played host to and won the 1978 World Cup, controversially chose not to include the then 17-year-old Maradona on his roster.
Maradona’s time would come later.
In Spain in 1982, Norman Whiteside became the youngest player to appear in a World Cup when he played for Northern Ireland against Yugoslavia at the age of 17 years 41 days.
If Walcott spends so much as one minute on a World Cup field in the month-long tournament that begins Friday, he would become the second youngest after Whiteside.
The fact that Walcott is in Germany at all is astonishing.
England Coach Sven Goran Eriksson had never seen the teenager play when he selected him to England’s roster May 9.
“Maybe it is my biggest, bravest, boldest gamble,” Eriksson said at the time. “If you take a 17-year-old boy to the World Cup, of course you can’t be sure. But the feeling is that I think he’s ready for it.”
Peter Crouch, England’s 6-foot-7 striker, agreed.
“He can beat players, he’s frighteningly quick,” Crouch said. “If he does half as well as Wayne [Rooney] has then obviously he’s got a great future.”
Since being selected, Walcott has made his national team debut and, in the process, broken Rooney’s record by becoming England’s youngest international.
Not everyone was in favor of Walcott’s selection, however. Bobby Charlton, the Manchester United icon from England’s 1966 World Cup-winning team, was one of those who believed the choice was unsound.
“I think it’s maybe a bit too much to ask of the young player,” Charlton said.
Eriksson was quick to fire back.
“I don’t think anyone expects him to come on against Brazil and score three goals,” he told Reuters. “But he deserves to be here and, who knows, at the next World Cup he may start.
“I don’t think he has any fear -- and why should he? He has nothing to lose.”
Neither does Aaron Lennon, the 19-year-old winger with blistering speed who also is on England’s 23-man roster.
No one argues against the presence of Messi on Argentina’s roster. The 18-year-old has been penciled in as a future star since he signed with Barcelona at age 13.
Last year, Messi led Argentina to the FIFA youth world championship in the Netherlands with a dominating performance, scoring six goals in seven games, including two in the final against Nigeria.
He was starting for Barcelona, this season’s Spanish and European champion, when he tore a muscle in his right thigh playing against Chelsea in the Champions League in March and has not played since.
While it is probable that he will participate in the World Cup, he has virtually been ruled out of Argentina’s opener, against the Ivory Coast in Hamburg on Saturday night.
Fans should hope he recovers in time to play a significant role in the tournament.
“He is a player who eliminates his rivals ... leaving them without any hope of recovery,” said Jorge Valdano, who won the World Cup with Argentina in 1986, scoring one of Argentina’s goals in its 3-2 victory over Germany in the final at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.
Argentina, like England, has another teenager on its team, goalkeeper Oscar Ustari, who also started at the youth world championship, and it might have had a third had Coach Jose Pekerman paid any heed to the wishes of Argentine fans.
They clamored not only for Messi but for 17-year-old Sergio Aguero, an attacking midfielder or striker, who last month was bought by Atletico Madrid in Spain from Independiente in Argentina for between $25 million and $29 million.
In Spain, he will come under the guidance of Javier Aguirre, who coached Mexico at the 2002 World Cup. Pekerman, however, figured two teens were enough. Like Maradona, who calls him “a real phenomenon,” Aguero’s time will come.
Spain’s Fabregas, 19, already has arrived. He was lured away from Barcelona when he was 16 and has since become a starter for the London club, this season’s Champions League runner-up.
A force in midfield, he is a creator and scorer of goals and holds the record as Arsenal’s youngest goal scorer.
In March, Fabregas became the youngest player in 70 years to play for Spain when he made his national team debut against the Ivory Coast.
Another record-setter was the Netherlands’ Ryan Babel, 19, who last year became the youngest Dutch player to score for his country in 68 years.
One teen who made his mark just in time for the World Cup is Mexico winger Andres Guardado, 19, of Atlas de Guadalajara. He made his debut for the Tricolores against Hungary in Phoenix in December.
“He’s got the dynamism you would expect of a 19-year-old kid,” Mexico Coach Ricardo Lavolpe told Reuters. “He shuttles back and forth. He doesn’t know what fear is, either. We thought he might be overawed about playing for his country, but he’s shown real character and steel.”
The same might be said of all 11 World Cup teens, every one of whom would surely echo Messi’s stated ambition for the tournament.
“I want to play in the final and hope we meet Brazil,” Messi said.
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Teenagers in the World Cup
*--* Name Age Position National Team Birthdate Club Team Toure 18 Defender Togo Jan. 1, 1988 Bayer Assimiou Leverkusen Ryan Babel 19 Winger Netherlands Dec.19, 1986 Ajax Amsterdam Dmitro 19 Defender Ukraine Nov. 7, 1986 Shakhtar Chigrinsky Donetsk Johan 19 Defender Switzerland Jan.18, 1987 Arsenal Djourou Cesc 19 Midfielder Spain May 4, 1987 Arsenal Fabregas Andres 19 Midfielder Mexico Sept. 28, 1986 Atlas de Guardado Guadalajara Aaron Lennon 19 Winger England April 16, 1987 Tottenham Hotspur Lionel Messi 18 Forward Argentina June 24, 1987 FC Barcelona Jose Montiel 18 Midfielder Paraguay March 19, 1988 Olimpia Oscar Ustari 19 Goalkeeper Argentina July 3, 1986 Independiente Theo Walcott 17 Forward England March 16, 1989 Arsenal
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