The U20 World Cup, the youth competition that has produced many greats of world football such as Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, will be held in Argentina from this Saturday until June 11. Here’s the data to take into account.
Why is it played in Argentina?
The World Cup was originally scheduled to take place in Indonesia, but in the country with the world’s largest Muslim population, government objections began to be raised against the presence of newcomer Israel at the tournament, with which it does not maintain diplomatic relations.
Due to the lack of guarantees, FIFA withdrew the organization and nominated Argentina a month after the start of the tournament. Although the competition did not qualify, the South American country offered stadiums and training centers available to the 24 qualifiers.
Another key detail for the unit is the fanaticism of Argentina’s fans, which has grown stronger since winning the World Cup in Qatar in December and will help give the competition a more colorful profile.
Absent
Clubs are not obliged to hand over players for the World Championship and this has put a fair amount of weight on many teams.
Argentines Alejandro Garnacho (Manchester United), Brazilians Andrić (Palmeiras/Real Madrid) and Vitor Roque (Atletico Paranaense), Uruguayan Álvaro Rodríguez (Real Madrid), Englishman Rico Lewis (Juventus) and Colombian Jhon Duran (Aston Villa) are the most absent. are going to live.
Follow players
There are many football players who do not have a poster like absentees, but who have attracted the attention of great teams in Europe or have already moved out of the country because of their circumstances.
midfielder Maximo Perron for Manchester City and Juventus winger Matias Sole for Argentina; Ecuadorian midfielder Kendry Paez, from Independiente del Valle but with a future at Chelsea, as well as Brazil captain Andrey Santos, currently at Vasco da Gama.
Among the Europeans, English midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka (Chelsea) and French striker Malamine Efekele (Monaco), and among the Africans, Senegalese winger Samba Diallo. Forward Kevin Paredes (Wolfsburg) leads the USA offense.
Stadium
Since local teams are in full competition with local leagues and the Copa Libertadores, the youth championship will be played mainly in the interior of the country.
The venues are the Malvinas Argentinas Stadium in Mendoza; the Bicentennial of San Juan; The mother of cities in Santiago del Estero and Diego Maradona de la Plata, a suburb south of Buenos Aires.
Favorite
There is always room for surprises in the U20 World Cup. The previous champion was Ukraine – having not qualified for the current edition – and another South Korea.
Although the last four editions have been won by European teams, South America will look to break that streak with hosts Argentina and Brazil, the tournament’s top two winners since 1977 with six and five titles each.
European monarchs England emerged as the main threat from the Old Continent, as did Senegal, which won qualifying tournaments in Africa.
Israel and the Dominican Republic are debutants in the competition. The Dominicans also qualified for football at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
