The Footie Fool

Nigeria and Zambia will join Congo and Gambia as the CAF representatives at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada, while Argentina and Chile join Brazil and Uruguay as the South American representatives.

Zambia beat Egypt 3-0 at the final day of the African Youth Championships in Congo to book their spot, while Nigeria managed to qualify by the narrowest margin, despite being beaten by Cameroon 2-0. Nigeria finished second in their group over Cameroon on goal difference.

Meanwhile, in Paraguay, Argentina scored two minutes into second-half stoppage time against Uruguay to secure their spot and, despite beating Chile 3-2, the home side Paraguay missed out on going to the finals because of an inferior goal difference with Chile.

So, the final tournament picture so far looks like this:

AFC (4)
Korea DPR, Japan, Korea Republic, Jordan

CAF (4)
Gambia, Congo, Zambia, Nigeria

CONCACAF (4)
USA, Panama (2 spots left)
Mexico, Costa Rica, St. Kitts and Nevis and Jamaica will face each other in Group B from 21 – 25 February 2007 in Mexico.

CONMEBOL (4)
Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile

OFC (1)
The OFC U-20 Men’s Championship is being held in Auckland, New Zealand from 20 to 31 January 2007 with Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tahiti and Vanuatu competing in a round-robin format.

UEFA (6)
Spain, Scotland, Czech Rep, Austria, Poland, Portugal

HOST (1)
Canada