South America Leads the Way at U20 WCup

South American teams have impressed so far at the Under-20 World Cup, and with Brazil leading the way in Egypt it seems hard to bet against the title going to South America for a fifth straight tournament.

Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay are unbeaten, and Venezuela joins them in the last 16 -- where Brazil faces Uruguay.

"The game with Uruguay will be a classic South American clash," Brazil coach Rogerio said. "We are confident that we will progress and move toward winning the cup."

Seven of the last eight tournaments have gone to Argentina or Brazil, with six won on foreign soil. Aside from the glitz and flashy goals of Brazil, South American teams have an ability to excel in tight situations.

"South American players are more free. More free to play, and do what they feel," Uruguay's coach Diego Aguirre said. "There is more instinct, or more imagination. I just tell them 'play"'.

Both Uruguay and Paraguay have won games here, or salvaged them, late on.

A tactical switch after having a player sent off saw Paraguay play better and beat host Egypt 2-1, while Uruguay's coolness under pressure meant it rallied from 2-0 down to draw against Ghana thanks to playmaker Nicolas Lodeiro.

Against Paraguay last week, Egypt panicked after failing to break down 10 men for over an hour. Paraguay's coach Adrian Coria says the team regularly practices 10 vs. 11 in training.

"They played better with 10 players," Egypt coach Miroslav Soukup said. "They didn't just defend, they kept up the same intensity."

Uruguay also beat England 1-0 with a late goal that was as a direct result of two substitutions made by Aguirre.

South American teams have technical ability in abundance, but the longer the game goes on, the tighter it is, the more they seem to threaten with their clever movement and tactical intelligence.

"The South Americans are in this tradition of looking for spaces, looking for spaces between the lines. The job of the number 10 is to position himself just between the opposition's midfield and defense," Simon Kuper, author of 'Football Against the Enemy' and 'Why England Lose', told The Associated Press. "All these ideas don't have much resonance in English football."

England went out without winning a game for a third straight tournament, and has scored once in nine games since 1997. While one of Uruguay's substitutes scored against England in the 85th minute, England had no options on its bench.

England is trying to break with its age-old tradition of muscular football and the long ball game.

Clumsy clearances were long associated with English defending, rather than the tidier approach of bringing the ball out from the back favored by South American teams -- and by Spain, France and Italy.

"English teams have tended to see space more in terms of territory to be conquered, as in war or rugby," Kuper said. "Hence the long ball. It crosses lots of territory at once."

When England tried to match Uruguay's passing game it lacked an inventive playmaker, like Lodeiro, to change tempo.

England's passes went to feet, but did little damage. After 20 passes the ball was still in England's midfield, and nowhere near Uruguay's goal, so the old habit of lobbing the ball forward resurfaced.

Ten of England's starting eleven against Uruguay are with top Premier League clubs, yet none of them plays. Three of Uruguay's team have valuable experience the Copa Libertadores -- South America's Champions League -- including Lodeiro.

"These are quite battle-hardened players. Lots of them have had really serious first team opportunities," Tim Vickery, a specialist on South American football who is also a BBC columnist, said by telephone.

"The other important thing is the seriousness with which (these tournaments) are taken," Vickery added. "The European teams don't really look to develop the talent that much (but South Americans) are fast-tracking these players into the senior team, the future of the international side."

Brazil's titles came in 1983, '85, '93 and 2003. Only Argentina has more titles with six.