Going Through Footy Withdrawals? The Toulon Tournament’s on Fox Soccer

If you’re going through withdrawals as the European leagues are ending/have ended, you may want to turn your attention to the youth tournament going on right now in Toulon, France and being broadcast on Fox Soccer. 

(All the PR is saying it’s a U-21 tournament, except for the stuff that’s saying it’s a U-20. But Peter Nowak, the US U-23 coach, has taken a team and it’s been billed as his way of scouting for new faces, pre-Olympics. So let’s just say it’s a younger than full national team tournament and call it good?)

So what is the Toulon tournament? It’s an unofficial invitational tournament that takes place in Toulon, France. Official name: Tournoi Espoirs de Toulon. Which translates to “Toulon Hopes’ Tournament. (Or it can be translated as “Toulon Hopefuls’ Tournament,” but that sounds a little desperate to me. “Les Espoirs,” or “The Hopes” is what the French call their U-21 team. I think it’s nicer to think of them as “The countries’ hopes for the future” rather than “These guys who are very hopeful that they will someday be good enough to play on the REAL team.”)

Teams this year are

Group A: France, Chile, Japan, Netherlands
Group B: USA, Italy, Ivory Coast, Turkey

Schedule:
Today
12:30 Eastern, Ivory Coast vs. USA
2:30 Eastern, Italy vs. Turkey

Tomorrow
12:30 France vs. Netherlands
2:30 Chile vs. Japan

Sunday
12:00 Italy vs. USA
2:00 Ivory Coast vs. Turkey
 
1st Semifinal Tuesday, May 27 – 12:00 p.m. ET

2nd Semifinal Tuesday, May 27 – 2:30 p.m. ET

Third Place Match Thursday, May 29 – 12:00 p.m. ET

Final Thursday, May 29 – 2:30 p.m. ET

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Category: World Football