The Men’s U-20 World Cup is in the books, and the winner is a team from our communities. Uruguay won in the 2023 edition, which took place in Argentina, after a 1-0 win in a hard-fought final against Italy. It is the first time Uruguay has won the U-20 Championship, and the youth trophy is the Uruguayan national team’s first trophy since the national team won the 1950 World Cup against Brazil 73 years ago.
It is also the last major fútbol title Uruguay had yet to win, with Uruguay previously having won a World Cup, Copa America, Olympics, World Champions Gold Cup, and now the U-20 World Cup.
To the chorus of “Volveremos, volveremos, volveremos otra vez, volveremos a ser campeones, como la primera vez,” or “we’ll be back, we’ll be back, we’ll be champions again, like the first time,” the Estadio Único Diego Armando Maradona in the city of La Plata, Argentina saw the team face an Italian squad that was also looking for their first U-20 title and beat them not just with luck, but with exceptional gameplay and the famous “garra charrúa.”
Luciano Rodríguez scored the team’s only goal with only four minutes to go, but the team won every knockout stage game without the need for extra time and did not concede any goals in any of those games.
The win means Argentina is the current men’s World Cup Champion, after beating France last December, Uruguay is the current U-20 Champion, after beating Italy, and Brazil the current U-17 and Olympic Champion, which proves fútbol in our communities are doing very well indeed.