Kiwi fans about to get a taste of world's best young footballers

After topping the A-League table with five rounds to play, they lost four of their last six games to get bundled out in the first round of playoffs. It was their best season, and their worst finish. Photo / Getty Images

With less than a month until the start of the Fifa Under-20 World Cup, it's time for Kiwi sports fans to get excited.

While New Zealand's sporting public may not yet be aware of the size and scale of the footballing storm about to hit the country, the football die-hards sure do, and they are eagerly eyeing the calendar, counting down the days until the rest of the country gets on the same page.

The tournament is expected to reach 170 million television viewers across 100 countries and football governing body Fifa is hoping 500,000 fans pass through the gates over the course of the 52 games.

But, spectacular international interest aside, the most exciting part of it all is the quality of football that will be brought to our shores.

As a football journalist living in Auckland, I'm in the unusual position of very rarely seeing any high-quality live games of the sport I cover. With a population of 1.5 million, Auckland must be one of the largest cities in the Western world not to host a professional team, and the highest live standard I can regularly watch without getting on a plane is the amateur ASB Premiership.

The same goes for most football fans outside Wellington.

This makes the prospect of watching the world's best young footballers, live, for three weeks straight, so tantalising.

Because, make no mistake, the standard of this tournament will be exceptionally high.

It will feature some of the future superstars of world football, many of whom already grace the dressing rooms of some of the top club sides around the world.

Headlining the list is Germany's Davie Selke, who plays for Werder Bremen and is touted as the next Miroslav Klose. Then there is Argentinian striker Giovanni Simeone, who plays for Argentina giants River Plate and is the son of Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone. And arguably the main attraction is Brazilian Marcos Guilherme, whose performances in the recent Conmebol qualifiers have attracted inquiries from Bayern Munich and Shaktar Donetsk. But they would have to pay a reputed 30 million ($44.5 million) release clause to pry him away from Brazilian club Atletico Paranaense.

New Zealand also have a decent shot at getting out of their group which includes Myanmar, Ukraine and the USA. They will be heavily reliant on Bill Tuiloma, who is just finishing a breakthrough season with Olympic Marseille in France, to lead the way. They are physically imposing and tough to break down.

Kiwi sports fans did a great job of getting behind the Under-17 World Cup hosted here in 1999. Once the penny drops that this year's competition will be bigger and better, football's tragics won't be the only ones eagerly awaiting May 30.

Things about football

Phoenix disappointment
What on earth happened to the Phoenix? After topping the A-League table with five rounds to play, they lost four of their last six games (all at home) to get bundled out in the first round of playoffs. It was their best season, and their worst finish.

Junior All Whites go down
The Junior All Whites lost their first World Cup warmup match 3-2 to Australia on Sunday despite playing well and leading 2-1. Striker Alex Rufer hit the nail on the head when he said good performances won't cut it at the World Cup: "We can play well but we can't lose games. We need to get wins."

Five Nations Cup
The pre-Cup tournament continues for New Zealand on Thursday when the Junior All Whites face Panama, before meeting Qatar on Sunday. All games are played at QBE Stadium in North Harbour and it's a great chance to see some of the world's young talent in action before the tournament begins.