2018's Toulon Tournament

2018's Toulon Tournament

Last Saturday, Mexico and England played the final of the Tournoi Maurice Revello known more famously as the Toulon Tournament. The Toulon Tournament is a cup disputed every year in France as a showcase for the future generations of football. The format consists of 3 groups- each with 4 teams in it- were the first places and the best second place go through to the semifinals. But what is special about this tournament? Well, the tournament is played by National U-21 Teams. Players like Zinedine Zidane, Cristiano Ronaldo, Hugo Sanchez, Thierry Henry, or more recently Hector Herrera, Javier Mascherano and James Rodriguez played this tournament when they were relatively unknown. Let's take a look at some information regarding this year's tournament:

 

Teams Involved 

Group A	Group B	Group C
England U21	France U21	Turkey U21
Mexico U21	Scotland U21	Canada U21
Qatar U21	Togo U21	Japan U21
China U21	South Korea U21	Portugal U21

 

Semifinals

Mexico (1st place) 3-1 Turkey (1st Place)

England (Best 2nd place) 3-1 Scotland (1st Place)

 

Final

England 2-1 Mexico

 

Individual Awards

Best Player: Diego Lainez (Mexico)

The Club America's player was awarded the best player title for his top performances during the tournament. His creativity and vision made Eduardo Aguirre the top scorer with 7 goals. He made his debut in the Mexican first division last year with only 16 years and since then transfer rumors have flooded the Mexican newspapers, Saint Etienne, Olympique Lyon, PSV and Villarreal are among the teams that want to steal this talent. In game, his pace and his crossing make him a great winger. His cheap price and young age, also make him a must for middle table teams that are looking for bargain solutions. Definitely a guy to watch out for. 

 

2nd Best Player: Lewis Cook (England)

After taking the most important step of his footballing career so far by moving from Championship-side Leeds to Premier League's Bournemouth. He hasn't stopped developing and he has effectively showed his progress in this year's tournament by lifting the trophy as captain. In game, he is quite expensive for mid-table teams, but once you train him every pound is worth is worth it. His passing, tackling and pace can all be trained to greens quickly turning him into a starter in any team. 

 

3rd Best Player: Michael Johnston (Scotland) 

Michael Johnston, along with his teammate Billy Gilmour, was one of the revelations of this year's tournament. He showed his class by handing out an assist and scoring a goal. He will now head back to Celtic and try to win a spot in the first team, where he has only played in 2 occasions. In game, he doesn't seem as a big deal but his low price could make him a lower leagues star and maybe with the correct amount of game time and training he can become a great player. 

 

Best Goalkeeper: Freddie Woodman (England) 

Conceding only 3 goals in 5 matches, Woodman was named the best goalkeeper of the tournament. This is the second award of this kind he has received after being named the best goalkeeper of the U20 Fifa World Cup. Unfortunately for him his position is very complicated and he has only managed 29 club appearances throughout his career. In game, he is very expensive but his value is worth it once he is trained to a beast goalkeeper. 

 

Best XI:

Every year the organizers of the tournament reveal that tournament's Best XI. I will not be going into detail with any player. Also, note some players were impossible to find in this year's game so I went on and replaced them with a player of their same nationality that also played in the tournament.

 

Picture taken form Wikipedia. This is the Best XI as published by the organizers of the tournament. Lee Kang-In, Billy Gilmour (named Breakthrough Player) and Eduardo Aguirre (Top Goalscorer with 7 goals) can't be found in this years game. They have been replaced in the following XI:

Goalkeeper

Spoiler

  

Defenders 

Spoiler

 

 

Midfielders

Spoiler

 

Attacker

Spoiler

 

That is all from me. Thanks for reading, if you enjoyed the read please leave a like and if there is something you feel should be changed or I said something wrong please feel free to correct me. 

Thanks again,

S4NCH0