SUMMARY OF THE TOURNAMENT

Joseba (Spain) was the best scorer in the 1995 tournament. Joseba (Spain), with seven goals to his name (three alone in the match against Chile), was not only the best scorer in the 1995 tournament but also reached the second highest score rating after Ramon Diaz (Argentina, 1979 WYC, 8 goals), but matching Marcel Witeczek (Germany, 1987 WYC), ever attained by one player at a world youth championship.
Qatar '95 turned out to be a triumph for the Latin American style of football. Thanks to a 2:0 win over Brazil in the final, Argentina won this World Youth Championship and thus carried off the FIFA Coca-Cola trophy for the second time, 16 years after their first win in 1979. Portugal staged a dramatic comeback to earn third place, leaving their Iberian neighbours Spain in fourth position. Whether this success will herald a new era for the classical Latin school of football remains to be seen, but on this occasion, Argentina, Brazil, Portugal and Spain were by far the best teams.

But first a quick look back to the start of this tournament and the spectacular opening ceremony in the magnificent Khalifa stadium. Following this colourful introduction, the young Qatari players opened the football side of things with a match against Russia. In the short time that had been available to him, the Qataris' Danish coach Jörgen Larsen had managed to assemble a sound team, and they put on a brave display in this opening game in Group A to hold the Russians to a 1:1 draw. The 65,000 spectators in the stadium and many more fans watching TV were well pleased with this start to the proceedings. However, defeats by Syria and Brazil in the following games ended their hopes of making further progress.

In Group A, Brazil earned seven points from their three games, and with a score sheet of 8:0 were clearly the strongest team. Asian champions Syria could hardly have got off to a worse start than their 0:6 drubbing by Brazil, but victory over Qatar restored their hopes for a short while. However in the deciding match, their failure to put away chances cost them the game against Russia (0:2), who thus went on to the quarter-final instead of the ambitious Arab team.

Dani (Portugal, 18) came second in the top scorers' rankings. Dani (Portugal, 18) the second best palyer in the tournament, went home with the Silver Ball. He also came second in the top scorers' rankings after Joseba (Spain) with 13 points (four goals, five assists).
In Group B, Spain scored no less than 13 goals in their three games and were unchallenged at the top of the group, ahead of Japan, whose exemplary sporting behaviour earned them the Fair Play Prize. For different reasons, Chile and Burundi never looked likely to reach the next stage. While the south Americans perhaps had enough talented players to take them through, a lack of discipline in defence and poor use of chances were the major reasons for their elimination. They drew against Japan and Burundi and were decisively beaten by Spain. The situation with Burundi was different. They and Cameroon were Africa's representatives, while Nigeria left FIFA's invitation to participate unanswered. But the political situation in Burundi meant that the team had no real chance to prepare properly for the tournament, and against this background the 1:1 against Chile has to be rated as a success. It was clear that the thoughts of their players and officials were still back home, and they were unable to concentrate fully on their football.

Ciao was the most prolific scorer in his team. With five goals to his credit, the Brazilian, Ciao, was the most prolific scorer in his team and fully merited being chosen the best player of the tournament.
With their spontaneous and colourful football, Cameroon in Group D soon won the hearts of the spectators. Tactically well organised by their coach Jean Manga Onguene, they claimed a late equaliser against a purely defensive German team and then went on to beat Australia and Costa Rica, thus clinching a quarter-final place. Australia managed a win over Costa Rica and a draw against Germany to claim the second qualifying place. Costa Rica themselves had all the qualities necessary for going into the second round, except for making use of chances. They were certainly one of the attractions of this tournament and if they had had a bit more luck when the groups were drawn in Abuja (Nigeria) back on 9 December 1994 could well have progressed further. The same cannot be said of the German team. Weakened by the absence of a number of first-choice players, the squad that coach Dörner brought here showed none of the qualities that are the normal strengths of German sides.

In Group C, Portugal and Argentina were in a class of their own. After a few problems getting going, both teams improved and qualified easily for the next round. The negative highlight of this pool was an event that is without parallel in FIFA history. In the match Netherlands v Honduras, with the score standing at 7:1, referee Masayoshi Okada of Japan was forced to end the game. The Hondurans had four players sent off and one injured; they had also used up their quota of substitutes, so they now had fewer than seven players on the pitch. Fortunately this game had no influence on the rankings in this group; with the maximum of 9 points from three games, Portugal were unchallenged leaders, and Argentina, having beaten Netherlands and Honduras, were clearly second. This was Netherlands's first qualification for a WYC since 1983, but that unusual win over Honduras was their only success. Like Germany, they too suffered from the absence of a number of key players.

Irigoytia (Argentina) mounted the podium as one of the three best players. Good goalkeeping in Qatar '95: Irigoytia (Argentina) was the first goalkeeper since Kasey Keller (USA in 1989 to mount the podium as one of the three best players...
In the quarter-finals the favourites proved their worth. Brazil beat Japan 2:1, but had to fight more than expected to pull back from being a goal down at one stage. The Japanese showed no respect for the three times world youth champions and with a bit more luck might have achieved a real sensation. Spain allowed the Russians no chance at all and scored three times in the first 30 minutes. After that they eased up a bit and seemed content to hold on to their lead. This allowed the east Europeans more into the game, but the Russians didn't manage to create any effective chances. Portugal were taken into extra time by a resolute Australian performance, but 10 minutes along Agostinho scored the golden goal that brought Portugal once again within sight of the final. All three goals in this game were scored by the Portuguese, two at the right end and one own goal. In their game against Cameroon, Argentina showed that they were approaching top form. Two goals for the "Gauchos" just before and just after half time crushed the Africans, who had no reply to this situation. This was the first time in the tournament that coach Jean Manga Onguene's lads had come up against an opponent that was strong both tactically and technically, and the limits of the Cameroon team were exposed.

Quim had also thrilled the crowd. ...Other gaurdians of the gol such as the Portuguese, Quim, had also thrilled the crowd.
Thus the semifinal line up was Brazil v Portugal and Spain v Argentina; historically, geographically, linguistically and sportingly certainly an interesting situation. A pure European final seemed possible, but Brazil and Argentina made it an all south American one. In the first encounter the final whistle was close when in the third minute of overtime Caio scored for Brazil, and the Portuguese, who had never really got into this game, had to bury their hopes of a third win following 1989 and 1991. That the winning goal came so late was less a tribute to the resistance of the reigning European champions than to the inability of the Brazilians to make use of their many chances. The Portuguese, coached in this match too by assistant trainer Agostinho, hardly ever looked dangerous and seemed to be pinning their hopes on getting through to the penalty shooting stage.

In the other semifinal, the European team came off second best as well. Argentina had a great day: at one end they ended the flood of goals that Spain's Joseba had been knocking in, while at the other almost every chance they had resulted in a goal. What the outcome would have been if the European runners-up had made use of the chances they had during the opening stages of the game will never be known. In their other matches such early goals had crushed the opponents, but this time their efforts were not rewarded, and the longer the game lasted the more the eventual winners found their own rhythm. It was a hard blow for the seemingly invincible-looking Spanish to swallow, but the Argentine team's superb tactical display truly earned them their place in the final, for the first time since 1983.

Raul (Spain) is already regarded as one of the regulars in club, Real Madrid.
Raul (Spain) was one of the few players present in Qatar who is already regarded as one of the regulars in club, Real Madrid.
In the play off for 3rd place, the Spanish had to absorb yet another shock. They were leading 2:0 early in the game, but the Portuguese came back in the second half and deservedly snapped the bronze medal from their neighbour's grasp.

Argentina looked good for gold from the start of the final. Midway through the first half Biagini scored against the Brazilians and took his team a step closer to achieving their dream of repeating their 1979 triumph. But the Brazilians pressed, and it seemed only a matter of time before they got the equaliser. The Argentines were unable to capitalise on their counterattacks, and the capacity crowd of 65,000 spectators in the Khalifa stadium enjoyed a dramatic match, well controlled by the English referee Dermot. But the 2:0 from Guerrero a minute before time finally settled things. Argentina's clever tactical adjustment to their opponent proved to be the decisive factor, just as it had in the semifinal.

So the new WYC trophy went to Argentina and the award for the best player to Brazil's Caio, ahead of Portugal's Dani and the Argentine goalkeeper Irigoytia. The "Adidas Gold Shoe" for top goalscorer was won by Joseba of Spain, with silver again for Dani and bronze this time for Caio. The Fair Play prize went to Japan with 900 points, just ahead of Russia (878) and Brazil (834).