By Patrick West
JEJU ISLAND, South Korea — The World Lacrosse Men’s U20 Championship is underway, Day 1 kicking off with five games of action.
Of course, the USA-Canada showdown — likely the gold medal game — is on everyone’s radar. You won’t have to wait long for the preliminary meeting, as they meet Saturday, Aug. 16, 11 a.m. local time (that’s 10 p.m. Friday ET in the USA and Canada).
The U20 event is divided into five pools. The 10th edition of the event will be held across 10 days, with Pool A comprising the top four teams from the last championship in Australia, Canada, the Haudenosaunee and the United States. They will all advance directly to the quarterfinals, while teams from the pools will fight to advance to the medal rounds.
The rosters to each of the following pools can be found here.
POOL A
Australia
Canada
Haudenosaunee
United States
POOL B
Ghana (will not participate due to visa issues)
Hong Kong, China
Japan
Netherlands
POOL C
England
Jamaica
Korea
New Zealand
POOL D
China
Ireland
Israel
Mexico
POOL E
Germany
Kenya
Puerto Rico
Chinese Taipei
Patrick West will be contributing from South Korea, bringing observations and sights from each day. Here are his observations from prior to games starting:
Team USA the Favorite as Minto Begins
Team USA is going to be hard to knock off. This may be said every international field competition, and Canada still shows up the championship game to make it a 50-50 game. But the Minto Cup is happening right now, and any Canadian knows some top talent is there, putting a strain on the player pool for the Canadians in this event. Talent aside, the US squad is operating like a machine, from the selection process to training camps to the planning here in JeJu. The Americans are ensuring their players have the best prep possible, which could make a huge difference here given several key factors like travel distance and the weather.
Watch Out For…
Joining the Americans and Canadians in Group A are the Haudenosaunee, who are not bashful about their play rugged play style and are amped to take on all comers. Rounding out the Top 4 seeds is Australia, who also will be automatically put through into the quarterfinals after pool play. From then on, the usual suspects of Japan and England will be lurking to earn a spot in the semifinals. Watch out for Ireland, Jamaica, China and Puerto Rico as they all look to crash the winners’ bracket after pool play as they have all cranked up their national team efforts to make a push to the winners bracket from pool play.
Palm Trees, Humidity and Lacrosse
Weather is a huge deal here.
This far-east destination is at the southernmost point in the country, a true tropical setting. Think palm trees, lush green hills and rugged ocean coastline. It is rainy season, and the air is filled with humidity even on sunny days. The heat and humidity are oppressive, ratcheted up on turf fields with no shade whatsoever.
The conditions will play a major factor in play. With small rosters sizes limited to 22, players will be challenged in a major way. In warm-ups, every single player appears to have jumped in the nearby ocean, soaking wet. Coaches will also be challenged as they determine how to deploy their squads. FOGO’s, LSMs and middies will be especially taxed. There is also talk of rotating goalies by some teams, as they sit baking in the sun, often sporting their sweatpants. Perhaps this is the event that reverses the goalie sweatpants fad.
International Play is Different
The two competition fields are extra wide.
In scrimmages, it seemed like endless space, with any tight sideline action was happening, giving offenses plenty of space to operate. It’s very hard for defenses to press out. But it also had the effect of pushing ball-carriers much further from the cage. Players dodging from the midfield have had a very long way to get to the goal, so that will be interesting to see how it impacts offensive flow and shot selection.
No shot clock, no clearing clock (a shot clock is coming to international events in 2026). The pace of the game is slower here than standard American college play, and incredibly slower than box play. With unlimited time to clear, it makes riding near impossible for well-matched teams. But it also will expose teams who make critical turnovers on clears. On the offensive side of the ball, during scrimmages all teams took more than their sweet time to pass it through several players, consuming clock just by “getting it around” two or three times. Face-off and getting the ball will be very important here because the number of possessions will surely be lower than many players are used to. Expect low-scoring games and long possessions. The heat, small rosters, wide field, and no clocks are major factors.
If a team gets down by a few goals in the second half, staging a comeback is going to be very difficult. A well-organized team can own the clock.
It’s Not Just USA-Canada
There are some very real rivalries here. But there are also some brewing tensions between teams from past international competitions, with slights being used as fire, whether legitimate or imagined. Sure, you might think there is a rivalry between England and Ireland, but Australia and Jamaica very much have the English in their sights.
The preparation levels and training process vary greatly between teams participating here at JeJu. Travel plans alone play a critical role, as it’s not uncommon to hear of players who took 36 hours to get on-site, traveling 10,000-plus miles. Some teams ran multiple training camps while others assembled for the first time here in Korea. Some teams have sports massage therapists performing daily rituals while others don’t even have ice on the sideline of a scrimmage. Some teams have multiple video and social media staff while others hope a parent shoots a phone pic. Of courses, national program strength and funding play a major role, so there will always be the “haves” and have nots,” but this event is seeing some non-traditional names emerge as taking a very serious approach to getting wins in Jeju. Keep an eye on dark horses like Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and China as they have cranked up their national team efforts to make a push to the winners’ bracket from pool play.
Saturday, Aug. 16 Schedule
USA vs. Canada, 11 a.m.
Puerto Rico vs. Germany, 11:10 a.m.
Haudenosaunee vs. Australia, 4 p.m.
Kenya vs. Chinese Taipei, 4:10 p.m.
Korea vs. Jamaica, 7 p.m.
*Note: Eastern Time is 13 hours ahead of local time, so games will start 10 p.m. Friday night.
Get live stats from the U20 Championship here. Games can be streamed on WorldLacrosse.Sport for a fee.