Toulon Kicks Off In Style – From Distance.

By: chris | June 4th, 2009

Egypt’s senior sides are reigning African champs and UAE’s senior side just allowed goal-allergic German striker Mario Gomez to put four past them in a friendly. Thus you’d expect the U-21 sides to match up appropriately.

Not the case during the 2009 Toulon Tournament’s opening yesterday when Mohammed Abdulla unleashed a vicious strike from distance, proving enough to beat the Egyptian children 1-0 and end on the Goal of the Tournament discussion on the first day.

If you haven’t heard of the Toulon tournament, it’s basically everything to which the UEFA/FIFA U-21 championships aspire. Eight U-21 teams are invited to take part in a glorified friendly tournament in (and around) Toulon, France running 9 days or so annually. There are two four-team groups where each team plays the other three once and the winner/runner up advance to the semi-finals, winner onto the finals. Very simple, very brief, simply splendid.

I found myself enraptured by the whole thing last year – even before the Azzurrini won it (promise) – because it truly seems to detach from the professional aspect of the game. Yes, the youngsters are playing for senior recognition and continued caps, but there’s a genuine youthful vigor and excitement about the tournament. The games are all enjoyable for the viewer and appear equally so for the players.

Plus it gives all the opportunity to say, “I saw him back when…”

The eight participants in two groups:

Group A: Argentina, Egypt, Netherlands, UAE
Group B: Chile, France, Portugal, Qatar

The squads via Wiki.

France is generally the favorite – home-field advantage – but Argentina’s first day 4-0 thumping of the Oranje Jr. might just put them on equal par.

And MyP2P will have most, if not all, of the games. Genuinely worth a watch as you prepare for your footy-less (not quite, actually) summer. Today’s fixtures are…

1830 CET Portugal v Chile
2045 CET France v Qatar

Why not…

Predictions: Chile 2-1; France 3-0.

Winner: Chile. They were excellent last year and only lost in the final to a generation’s tidal wave of Italian talent.

[Vid: 101 Great Goals]