 The BMO Field in 2012 | |||||||
| Event | 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup | ||||||
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| Date | 22 July 2007 | ||||||
| Venue | BMO Field,Toronto | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Sergio Agüero (Argentina)[1] | ||||||
| Referee | Alberto Undiano Mallenco (Spain) | ||||||
| Attendance | 19,526 | ||||||
The2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup final was the final match and culmination of the2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, hosted byCanada. The match was played at theBMO Field inToronto on 22 July 2007, and was contested byArgentina and theCzech Republic, being the seventh final for Argentina and the first for the Czechs.[2][3]
The match was won by Argentina 2–1, obtaining their sixthFIFA U-20 World Cup and becoming the most successful team at the tournament.[4]
At the 2007 World Cup, Argentina U-20 was seeking the back-to-back trophy, having previously won the2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in theNetherlands, where aMessi-led team defeatedNigeria 2–1 in the final.[3] In 2007, thenAtlético Madrid strikerSergio Agüero captained the team.[5] For the Czechs, the final in Toronto marked their first final at a FIFA U-20 World Cup since appearing as an independent country for the first time in the2001 FIFA U-20 World Cup inArgentina, and remains, to October 2025, as their country's best performance at a youth tournament.
Both Argentina and the Czech Republic were pooled intoGroup E,[6] facing each other in the first match of the group, which ended in a goalless draw.[6] Argentina went on to crushPanama 6–0 and narrowly defeatNorth Korea 1–0,[6] while the Czechs' game with North Korea ended in a 2–2 draw, to later defeat Panama 2–1 in the group's last match day.[7][6] Argentina advanced to the round of 16 with seven points, while the Czech Republic secured the second place.[6] Both North Korea and Panama were eliminated in that first round.[7][5][6]
The road to the final was harder for Czechia than for Argentina. In the round of 16, the Czechs advanced to the next round after a hard-fought match againstJapan, eventually defeating them bypenalties.[6] In the quarter-finals, Czechia held another draw, this time withSpain.[6] By scoring the first four penalty kicks, the Czechs advanced to the semifinals, where they defeatedAustria 2–0.[6]
Argentina, on the other side, defeatedPoland in the round of 16 (3–1),Mexico in the quarter-finals by a margin of 1–0, and the hostsChile by a score of 3–0[5] in a controversial and tense match which ended with Chilean players confronting the match's official,German refereeWolfgang Stark, and later clashing withToronto police, which left some of the Chilean playerspepper-sprayed,tasered, and briefly arrested by Canadian police. The match reached diplomacy whenChilean PresidentMichelle Bachelet filed a complaint against theCanadian government and protests took place inSantiago against the alleged repression andracism ofCanadian police.[8] The Canadian embassy in Santiago received a bomb threat and security around the building was upgraded.[8]Prime MinisterStephen Harper minimized the issue and didn't comment further.[9]
The final match took place at theBMO Field inToronto,[3] with an attendance of 19,526, and the officiating ofSpanish refereeAlberto Undiano Mallenco,[2] who was assisted on the lines by fellow Spaniards Fermín Martínez Núñez and Juan Carlos Yuste Jiménez.Uzbek refereeRavshan Irmatov was assigned as the fourth referee.[10]
A total of tenyellow cards were shown by Undiano Mallenco, six to the Czechs and four to the Argentines.[3] More than 20 faults were committed by both teams, whileball possession was largely positive for Argentina, ending the match with 61% against 39% of possession for the Europeans.[3] The first half was largely uneventful,[3] with the score opening in 60th minute, when CaptainMartin Fenin put the Czechs in a brief advantage, as Sergio Agüero equalized two minutes later.[3] The match turned in favor of Argentina in the 86th minute, when forwardMauro Zárate scored the 2–1 for thealbicelestes.[3]
John F. Molinaro ofCBC News highlighted the contrast between both teams, noting the differences in styles, adjudicating "grit" to the Czechs and "flair" to the Argentines. Molinaro also said that the Czechs played a physical game while Argentina relied on a flurry of quick and short passes to advance in the field.[3]
Argentina became the most-successful team in the FIFA U-20 World Cup by achieving their sixth title, having won all of their finals in the category except for one.[11]
| Argentina | Round | Czech Republic | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Opponent | Result | Group stage | Opponent | Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Czech Republic | 0–0 | Match 1 |  Argentina | 0–0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Panama | 6–0 | Match 2 |  North Korea | 2–2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| North Korea | 1–0 | Match 3 | Panama | 2–1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Final standing |
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| Opponent | Result | Knockout stage | Opponent | Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Poland | 3–1 | Round of 16 |  Japan | 2–2 (a.e.t.) (4–3p) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Mexico | 1–0 | Quarter-finals |  Spain | 1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–3p) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Chile | 3–0 | Semi-finals |  Austria | 2–0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Czech Republic | 1–2 | Argentina |
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Fenin 60' |
          Czech Republic |      Argentina |
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Man of the Match: Assistant referees: | Match rules:
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