Less than a week has passed since the U20 World Cup in Chile ended. As usual, we’re going to talk about some of the tournament’s most interesting players. We’ll present two lineups: both our Best XI and an Alternative XI.
Our goal isn’t to focus on the most well-known players, like Gilberto Mora, whom we already analyzed in depth, but rather on those who stood out while still ending up under the radar. We will take our time going in depth with some of them.
Rion Ichihara - Japan - 2005
First in line is one of Japan’s center-backs, even though the Asian side did not reach the later stages of the tournament. In line with the kind of players Japan has been producing recently — technically gifted, tactically intelligent, and physically strong — Ichihara is a center-back who shows intent and accuracy in his passes, and whose technical skills are well above average for his position.
Ichihara played a key role in his team’s, RB Omiya Ardija, promotion from J3 League to J2 League, logging 2,901 minutes. This year he has already reached 2,525 minutes, despite being only 20 years old. Defensively, his strength in duels — especially aerial ones: only nine center-backs in J2 League average more than his 4.74 aerial duels won per game — and his excellent defensive timing make him worthy of a place in our tournament’s best eleven.
Additionally, his leadership — he captained Japan in the tournament — and his ability to find the net (two goals) are other aspects we highlight about the RB Omiya Ardija defender.
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Milton Delgado - Argentina - 2005
Boca Juniors’ central midfielder, Delgado stands out for his ability to win duels despite his short stature (1.66m). The Argentine averaged 3.72 tackles per game with an 80.7% success rate during the World Cup in Chile. Looking at his performance in these same metrics with Boca Juniors, Delgado averaged almost the same number of tackles per game across his 1,098 minutes in the Argentine Apertura tournament (3.89), though his success rate dropped to 69.5%.
In addition to his tackling ability, Delgado is a midfielder who likes to organize play but also can receive the ball under pressure and retain possession by being safe with his passing. In the Apertura, he averaged 7.84 completed passes under pressure (88.4% success rate) and 5.15 under strong pressure (81.3%).
His passes are progressive, often aimed at taking opponents out of the play. According to our Players Bypassed by Passes metric, Milton Delgado bypasses an average of 23 opponents per game (a single player can be bypassed multiple times during a match). Only 14 midfielders (out of 145 with more than 450 minutes) in the Argentine Apertura improved on that figure.
Among all central midfielders at the U20 World Cup, Delgado ranked second in total ball progressions (73), behind only Mayssam Benama (106). Of those 73, 58 came via passes and 15 through carries.
Gessime Yassine - Morocco - 2005
We could talk about any of Morocco’s three attacking players, but Yassine received the least attention despite performing at a similar level to Maamma and Zabiri. At the moment, he is also the one playing at the highest club level. Yassine is a left-footed attacker capable of playing on both wings: while he featured as a left winger for Morocco, he is currently playing on the opposite flank for US Dunkerque in Ligue 2.
Yassine is a skillful dribbler who frequently wins fouls for his team. Last season in Ligue 2, where Dunkerque came close to promotion, the Moroccan won more fouls than 83% of wingers (2.71 per game) and completed more dribbles than 88% of his peers (3.22 per game).
Beyond dribbling, Yassine was the second winger with the most line-breaking passes per game in Ligue 2 last season. An impressive 14.4% of his passes broke one or more defensive lines — no winger in the league surpassed that figure.
Julio Díaz - Spain - 2005
The Spanish full-back is an overtly offensive player. Only four full-backs accumulated more Expected Threat (xT) than Díaz (1.11) in the U20 World Cup. His 56 progressive passes were the second-highest total in the entire tournament, only behind Gady-Pierre Beyuku-Bowutankoyi. He also completed 90.6% of his passes — a huge percentage as he also completed 232 passes, the second-most among all full-backs.
Last season, playing in Spain’s third tier (RFEF 1) with Atlético Madrid B, Díaz ranked 4th among full-backs in chances created per game (1.33) within his group. He is a highly promising crosser: 93% of full-backs in his group didn’t surpass his completed crosses figure per game (1.53), and only four had a higher cross completion rate (31%).
Seung-Ming Son - South Korea - 2005
The South Korean central midfielder didn’t make it past the first knockout round, but his radar stands out as one of the most promising in the tournament. Among all midfielders who played more than 300 minutes, no one completed more passes per game (46.2). Only four averaged more passes into the final third (14.7), and he ranked 8th in long passes completed per game (3.48).
Overall, Son stood out far above his teammates — he accounted for 14.4% of South Korea’s ball progressions in the opponent’s half and 29.4% of their passes into the opposition box. He was also one of the players who generated the most danger with his passing, producing 0.74 xT per 100 passes. Off the ball, he also impressed: no player averaged more interceptions (2) or recoveries (4) per game.
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Oscar Perea - Colombia - 2005
The Colombian winger is a skillful dribbler who frequently takes on opponents (2.66 successful dribbles per game during the tournament) and gets into dangerous areas (5.61 touches in the opposition box per game). Only Spain’s Pablo García ranked higher in our Pass Contribution metric, which measures the value and threat added by a player’s passes. Perea added value to 51.3% of his passes.
Moreover, Perea is a hardworking winger who stands out off the ball: no one made more interceptions (10) or individual pressures (317) than the Colombian.
When it comes to production — the real measure of an attacker’s impact — Perea generated a total of 1.28 xG, the second-highest among wingers in the tournament. He also attempted 16 shots, which is the highest figure among all wingers in the tournament.
