Despite the hard blow they received at the beginning of the year, the U-20 team was excited again
.
FIFA took away the organization of the World Cup from Indonesia for political reasons and Argentina is keen to be the new venue for the youth tournament (it would be announced these days).
In this way, the national team would qualify for the tournament and the Europibes are eager for confirmation of the news.
Matías Soulé, one of the young Argentine stars who works in Europe, told how they are living the days after the confirmation of Argentina's candidacy.
"
We have a WhatsApp group of the boys who went to Europe. There is Ale (Garnacho), Luka Romero, Tiago Geralnik, Franco Carboni, Valen Carboni and Nico Paz. We are all there and we send 'hopefully this tournament will be held and that we can go
.'
The Europibes of the Argentine National Team.
Although Garnacho has not yet had the chance to play with the senior team, he has already played a series of friendly matches with the Under 20s during 2022 and had contact with his teammates from the youth team.
"
We didn't know him, the first time he was with me and there we already made him drink mate, speak Argentine. And he already began to say 'eh boludo'. We got used to it little by little, "said Soulé, who has already played 19 games with
the Juventus and scored a goal.
The day Soulé played ping pong with Messi and De Paul
The Juventus player told TNT Sport an anecdote about the day he got involved in a ping pong game against the Argentine captain and the team's little engine, De Paul.
It all happened in the middle of the Qatar World Cup when the under-20 kids were sparring.
“They were playing and we approached Gastón Ávila and asked them if we could play.
The truth is that at the moment you don't realize it, but then you start to think that you are playing with Rodri and Messi.
It is inexplicable ”, started the kid.
“The points were shouting at us.
Rodri told me: 'Isn't there a ping pong table there in Italy?'.
They are very competitive, I remember that they sweated playing, they left life.
He got spicy ”, he recalled that moment of nerves that ended up being a great story of his first step through the National Team.
Mascherano will continue to be the DT of the Sub 20
And in the end, Javier Mascherano will continue to be the DT of the Sub 20. And in the end, the talks with Lionel Messi and Lionel Scaloni gave results.
And in the end, with Argentina as the World Cup venue (it will become official this week), his decision to resign was put aside.
Indeed, the coach has already said yes to Bernardo Romeo, the coordinator of youth teams (the reality is that he had not yet terminated his contract), so he will remain in charge of that category and, in addition, will direct in the maximum quote...
Javier Mascherano will continue to lead the Argentina Under 20 National Team (Photo: EFE).
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The Classified
South America: Argentina (for organizing it) Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia and Ecuador.
Europe: England, France, Italy, Israel and Slovakia.
Africa: Gambia, Senegal, Tunisia and Nigeria.
Concacaf: United States, Honduras, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.
Asia: South Korea, Japan, Uzbekistan, New Zealand and Iraq.
Oceania: Fiji.
Format
There will be six groups of four teams each.
The first two of each group and the four best third-placed teams will advance to the round of 16.
The contest would start on May 20 and end on June 11, 2023.
Lottery
FIFA, once the headquarters of Argentina is made official, must indicate the date of the draw.
If it was played in Indonesia it was scheduled for March 30.
The Drums
Drum 1: Argentina, Uruguay, United States, Italy, France and Senegal.
Pot 2: Ecuador, England, New Zealand, Brazil, Colombia and South Korea.
Pot 3: Nigeria, Honduras, Fiji, Uzbekistan, Japan and Iraq.
Pot 4: Dominican Republic, Israel, Slovakia, Tunisia, Gambia and Guatemala.