U17 Semis in the Laguna

France's U17 jerseys against Mexico reminded me very much of a French prison uniform in some movie or TV show previously buried deep in my subconscious. Or maybe it was that early Simpsons when Bart gets abused as a wine-making apprentice. In any event, they were hideous, far more so than they appear in the above shot.

On the strength of that 2-1 victory, Mexico is now in the U17 semifinals on Thursday night against Germany, to be played in Torreón. (Crap, I left a year too soon.) I'm sure the Germans will love the late afternoon in La Laguna. That's some first-rate schedule-making, Mexico.

It's hard to know how much to make of the players at the U17 level (from the 2005 title team, Gio Dos Santos, Efraín Juárez, and Héctor Moreno look like sure things to be a part of the national team for a long time, and maybe Carlos Vela and César Villaluz, but no one else really leaps out at me), and after watching the Copa América everyone kind of looks like a spaz at that level, but Carlos Fierro has some nice touch.