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Manuel Pellegrini gave playing time to seven Manchester City youngsters in their friendly win over Toronto.

Of the eight that travelled with the first-team squad for their post-season tour, Brandon Barker was the only EDS player not to get on the pitch against the MLS side.

But while the cancellation of the Houston game has brought a premature end to City's North America tour, there is another stage that four other Blues starlets are ready to shine on.

The FIFA Under-20 World Cup kicks off in New Zealand at 2am BST, bringing together the 24 best nations. And no Premier League team has sent more players than City, who have four at the tournament.

All of the Blues quartet are out to impress with their country, but for City fans it is another chance to see what could be a part of the club's future.

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Rony Lopes has already tasted first-team football under both Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini and, fresh from a year on loan at Lille, is hoping to go far in the competition.

"The other team can't score when we have the ball, so we like to keep possession of the ball. That's our style," he said.

"This is a very confident team, we believe in each other. We've played together for years, so we have a close bond as a team.

"When I was 15 and playing for Benfica I was playing with a lot of the players, and we played against each other all the time.

"It's so important to have that culture in the team. We love playing together."

Kelechi Iheanacho is still waiting for a Blues debut he craves, but will be focused on eclipsing Nigeria's previous quarter-final best.

"Nigeria haven't won the Under-20s for the first time so we have to work hard to set the record for the first time for Nigeria to win," he told M.E.N Sport.

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"All the countries are very good. We have Brazil to play in the first game so we have to focus, make sure we win the first game and take it on from there."

Despite missing a pre-tournament training camp in Germany, Iheanacho - named Player of the Tournament at the Under-17 World Cup two years ago - was not concerned about linking up again with his teammates.

"It's not going to be a problem because I've been with them at the Under-17 World Cup so I know the way we play."

Also in the Nigeria squad is Chidibere Nwakali, an 18-year-old midfielder six months into a two-and-a-half year loan spell at Spanish side Malaga.

Yaw Yeboah, an 18-year-old forward voted Most Valuable Player at the African Youth Championships earlier this year, will be involved for Ghana.