LONDON, Jan 19, (RTRS): Argentina and holders Brazil, who between them have 11 titles, will miss this year’s Under-20 World Cup in Turkey after abysmal results in the South American qualifying tournament.
The arch-rivals both failed to go through to the title round in the South American under-20 championship being hosted by Argentina in the western Andean region of Cuyo. Brazil, five times world champions and with 11 South American titles, lost 2-0 to Peru on Friday and finished bottom of Group B with four points from four matches in the first stage.

“It’s embarrassing. It’s very sad to return to Brazil with a sense of shame,” coach Emerson Avila told reporters.

Argentina won their last match 3-2 against already qualified Colombia on Thursday but had already been eliminated by then, having picked up one point from their previous three games.

“We had good players but there was too much individualism,” said Argentina midfielder Manuel Lanzini.
Chile are favourites after romping to four wins in Group A with Colombia and Paraguay also going through. Peru won Group B by one point from Uruguay with Ecuador also qualifying for the six-team championship group.

The top four qualify for the World Cup, from June 21-July 13, which Brazil have missed once before in 1979. Argentina have garnered poor results since they won a record sixth world title in Canada in 2007.
Football pundits have blamed poor appointments to the coaching staff after the glory years under Jose Pekerman, who is now in charge of Colombia’s fast-improving senior national team.

Pekerman steered Argentina to four world youth titles between 1995 and 2005 and his assistant Hugo Tocalli won the 2007 tournament after taking over but was not offered a new contract.

Success at under-20 level helped Argentina to win the Olympic gold medal in 2004 and 2008 but they failed to qualify for last year’s Games in London.

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SYDNEY: Former Italy striker Alessandro Del Piero’s four-goal masterclass inspired Sydney FC to a record 7-1 victory over the Wellington Phoenix on Saturday.

The 38-year-old former Juventus stalwart was involved in all six goals before he was substituted after thoroughly entertaining more than 12,500 fans at the Allianz Stadium.

“I felt free in my mind today, for sure,” Del Piero said after helping his team to jump to sixth place in the 10-team league with their biggest A-League triumph. “It’s a day from the heavens because when you score four, for sure it’s a great day.

“I’m really happy, not only for the four goals but because we played very good from the first minute.”
New signing Joel Griffiths latched on to a Del Piero lob to open the account in the 11th minute before the former Italy great himself made it on to the scoresheet.

His back to the goal, Del Piero received a low cross and swivelled to bury the ball into the top left corner. He got his second within a minute, converting from the penalty spot after Jason Culina was brought down inside the box.

In no mood to relax, Del Piero released Ali Abbas down the flank before the ball reached Culina who slotted home in the 25th minute.

Del Piero completed his hat-trick with a powerful, curling shot from the top of the box as Sydney went into the break with a 5-0 lead.

Del Piero scored his fourth goal in the 70th minute before going off the pitch to a standing ovation.
Ben Sigmund scored a consolation goal for the visitors before Yairo Yao struck to complete the rout.