19 years on from Canada 2007: where are Argentina's last U-20 champions? | OneFootball

19 years have passed since the last Under-20 World Cup won by the Argentina national team in Canada 2007. That team, coached by Hugo Tocalli, is remembered for its success and for the stars in its squad, which defeated the Czech Republic 2-1 in the final and defended the title it had won two years earlier in the Netherlands.

Among its stars, Ángel Di María, now a player for Rosario Central, stands out. After shining in Europe at clubs such as Real Madrid, Manchester United and PSG, “Fideo” became an idol of the senior national team thanks to his decisive goals in the Copa América final against Brazil and the World Cup final against France. The other member of that squad who contributed to the third star in Qatar 2022 was Alejandro “Papu” Gómez. However, the former Atalanta and Sevilla player was sidelined by Lionel Scaloni after hiding a positive UEFA doping test from the coaching staff in November 2022 (which he learned about two days before the final against France); now, at 37, he plays for Calcio Padova in Italy’s Serie B. Meanwhile, the biggest star and top scorer of that tournament, with six goals, was Sergio Agüero. “Kun” had an abrupt retirement in mid-2021 due to a heart arrhythmia at Barcelona and currently works as a streamer and CEO of KRU Esports and Kunisports in the Kings League.

More than half of the champions have already retired. Among the most notable names to hang up their boots are Federico Fazio (Olympic champion in Beijing 2008 and World Cup player in Russia 2018), Pablo Piatti (four titles with Estudiantes), Mauro Zárate (who had a standout spell in Europe, Vélez and Boca), Sergio Romero (most recently at Argentinos Juniors), full-back Emiliano Insúa and Lautaro Acosta, current head coach of the reserve team of Talleres de Córdoba. On the other hand, very few are still active: Javier García is Boca’s third goalkeeper; Éver Banega is part of the Defensa y Justicia squad although he has not played any minutes; Gabriel Mercado plays for Inter de Porto Alegre and Leonardo Sigali wears the shirt of Aldosivi.

The full championship-winning squad was made up of: Sergio Romero, Javier García, Bruno Centeno, Federico Fazio, Emiliano Insúa, Gabriel Mercado, Matías Cahais, Matías Sánchez, Germán Voboril, Leonardo Sigali, Claudio Yacob, Ever Banega, Damián Escudero, Alejandro Cabral, Alejandro “Papu” Gómez, Maximiliano Morález, Ángel Di María, Mauro Zárate, Sergio Agüero, Pablo Piatti and Lautaro Acosta.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.