FIFA U-20 World Cup

[sadora]

Canada is hosting the U-20 World Cup of Football this summer.

Since Canada is the host they get an automatic by into the tournament and most of their group stage games will be played in Edmonton. VANFLAMESFAN, Portugal is playing in Toronto.

Edmonton is also getting two of the round of 16 games, 1 quarterfinal and 1 of the semis.

This is going to be a great chance to see of the future stars, players which we'll most likely see in 2010 World Cup.

Here's a link to the Fifa website for more info.

http://fifa.com/en/comp/index/0,2442...U20M&year=2007

[Thunderball]

Kind of disgusting that in a city of over a million people, in a country hosting a prestigious tournament such as this, we have to drive up 2 1/2 hours to a smaller city to watch some games.

World Class city my ass.

[calgaryrocks]

true enough, woulda been nice to have some games at mcmahon stadium, but if you look at sports, canada just isnt a sports culture, definitly not a a pro soccer hotbed( minor soccer yes, but not pro)

[sadora]

I'm disappointed that there will not be any games here in Calgary, but the reason for this was that when FIFA announced that the tournament was going to be held in Canada, McMahon stadium wasn't up to FIFA standards, meaning that the pitch wasn't grass.

I'm a huge fan of the sport so I don't mind making the drive out to edmonton or Burnaby, which for the elimination rounds I'm basing my travel plans according to who's playing where.

[browna]

Originally Posted by Thunderball

Kind of disgusting that in a city of over a million people, in a country hosting a prestigious tournament such as this, we have to drive up 2 1/2 hours to a smaller city to watch some games.

World Class city my ass.

I didn't realize having an empty stadium for 6-8 months of the year meant we were not world class.

Vancouver, another Olympic city, population of over 2 million in GVR has a 10K seat stadium.

Calgary would've had a spot (look at Landsdowne Park and its turf) if Edmonton's 50K seat stadium wasn't 3 hours away.

Its taken the better part of 20 years for Toronto (population, 5 million) to get interest/financing/construction done on a modern soccer stadium, and that's only 20K people.

Reason...everwhere except for the west coast, these stadiums sit empty for the 6-8 winter months of the year...and for that matter, other then major sports, not filled in the summer months other then every second weekend..Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, no matter where.

[mrdeeds]

Soccer is not a major sport right now in North America let alone the Great White North si I would not be too worried.

Edmonton has a better rep in the past few years of hosting major events I would have to admit and has done well with them. Calgary does have some catching up to do.

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by browna

I didn't realize having an empty stadium for 6-8 months of the year meant we were not world class.

Vancouver, another Olympic city, population of over 2 million in GVR has a 10K seat stadium.

Calgary would've had a spot (look at Landsdowne Park and its turf) if Edmonton's 50K seat stadium wasn't 3 hours away.

Its taken the better part of 20 years for Toronto (population, 5 million) to get interest/financing/construction done on a modern soccer stadium, and that's only 20K people.

Reason...everwhere except for the west coast, these stadiums sit empty for the 6-8 winter months of the year...and for that matter, other then major sports, not filled in the summer months other then every second weekend..Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, no matter where.

Actually... Calgary was in the running, McMahon was approved (with the forthcoming fieldturf installation)... Calgary decided to drop out. Thats what makes the city bush league.