Last week, the official rosters of the participants of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which will begin in Argentina on May 20, were announced. After looking at the lists there are some interesting things worth paying attention to.
So pay attention to...
Ofir Haim's roster includes Roy Revivo, the son of the great Haim Revivo, who will be one of a significant group of sons of former players.
Colombia, Israel's first opponent in the tournament, has Tomás Ángel, the son of Juan Pablo Ángel, the national team striker who starred at River Plate and Aston Villa at the time.
Argentina's squad includes Federico Redondo, the son of Real Madrid legend Fernando Redondo, and in England is Liam Delap, son of unforgettable foreign agent Rory Delap. And there are many others.
Federico Redondo from Argentina. Son of Real Madrid legend Fernando, photo: from Twitter
Youngest: Kendri Paas of Ecuador arrives at the U-20 World Championship just after turning 16. He is one of only two 2007 natives in the tournament, and although he is the youngest, it is not inconceivable that he will be the most talked about.
Paas, who already plays for Independiente del Valle's first team, is one of the biggest sensations in South American and world football. Left-handed, agile, wonderful ball control and constant comparisons to Angel Di Maria. Chelsea have already started working on an acquisition, the question is how much they will be worth after this championship.
Kendri Paas from Ecuador. Only 16 years old, photo: from Twitter
Global players: The boundaries have long been breached in world football. Players move from here to there, choose citizenship, get on the national team uniform and forward to the World Championship.
Nico Takahashi from Barcelona was born in Spain to a Japanese mother and an Argentine father and could represent three national teams. In the end he chose Japan and in this tournament he will come to his father's homeland for the first time in his life.
One of Colombia's goalkeepers is Alexei Rojas Fedorshenko, who was born in England and plays for Arsenal, but also holds Russian citizenship on his mother's side and Colombian on his father's side. All three teams approached him over the years, and in the end he chose to sit on Colombia's bench.
And then there's the player with the best name in this tournament: Oliver Schmidhauser. Born in Switzerland, plays in Leipzig, represents the Dominican Republic.
Oliver Schmidhauser from the Dominican Republic. Born in Switzerland, acting in Germany, photo: from Twitter
Foreign coaches: Unlike the senior teams, where a foreign coach is common, at younger ages it is rarer. Still, three foreign coaches will be at this tournament and it's no surprise to learn that they come from the smaller teams.
The Dominican Republic will be coached by Cuban Walter Benítez, Englishman Fiji Guided by Bobby Mims and Mexican Guatemalan Rafael Loredo.
The Tower Twins: Lucas Kelly-Hield, New Zealand's defender, is one of three tallest players in the tournament at 1.98 meters. His twin brother Albert, New Zealand's goalkeeper, is next on the list at 1.96 meters.
On the other hand, the shortest player in the tournament is Odin Peña of Honduras, the only player in the tournament under 1.60 meters and 1.58 meters tall.
Those who stayed home: There is no obligation on teams to release players for this tournament, and the results suck. Oskar Gluch is Israel's biggest loss after not being released from Red Bull Salzburg, but we are not alone here.
Oscar Gloch. Staying in Austria, photo: AFP
The hottest sports articles and updates on your Telegram
Join
Argentina will do without United's Alejandro Garnacho, Brighton's Facundo Bonanotta and Real Madrid's Nico Paes, England without City's Rico Lewis, Dortmund's Bieno Gittens and Juventus' Ayling Jr., France without Chelsea's Malo Gusto and Brazil without Endrick (Palmeiras) and Vitor Roca (Atletico Paranaense).
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us