Argentina, an emergency host for the U-20 World Cup

The U-20 men's soccer world cup that begins on May 20 will be played in Argentina.

FIFA confirmed it this Monday after two weeks of having the tournament on the air.

The World Cup was to be played in Indonesia, but the global soccer authority stripped this country of the organization at the end of March due to the annoyance of some authorities in the Muslim-majority country over the participation of the Israel team.

The diplomatic tension has been a window of opportunity for Argentina: its U-20 team, which with six titles is the biggest champion of the contest, had run out of a place for this year after a bad step in the South American competition.

The chance to host at the last minute gives her another chance to participate in the World Cup.

"FIFA has given a very important opportunity for our country to host all the teams that are going to come," the president of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), Claudio Tapia, celebrated this Monday in a meeting with the ministers of Economy and Sports.

The "good excuse to extend the party that meant the championship obtained in December in Qatar", as defined by the Minister of Sports, Matías Lammens, is also an economic opportunity that the Argentine government has welcomed.

Last week the country reached inflation of 104% year-on-year in an economic crisis in which what it most needs are foreign currencies to avoid a collapse of the Argentine peso.

Sergio Massa, the Minister of Economy, thanked "the economic opportunity of receiving thousands of tourists,

The global soccer authority has made the announcement official hours after the meeting between the Argentine authorities: “FIFA is pleased to announce that this year's edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup will take place in Argentina, the home of the world champions opens its doors to the world soccer superstars of tomorrow,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in an official statement.

"I want to thank the AFA and in particular its president, Claudio Tapia, as well as the government authorities, for their commitment to hold this magnificent event in such a short time."

FIFA had decided on March 29 that Indonesia would no longer host the tournament after complaints from the governor of the island of Bali, in the south of the country, about the participation of the Israel team in the tournament.

In a letter to the Sports Minister, Governor Wayan Coster had asked the government to ban the participation of the Israeli team because Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population and which condemns Israel's military occupation of Palestine, does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. .

The threat of not receiving the Israeli national team in one of the tournament venues exhausted the patience of FIFA, which had awarded the organization of the tournament to Indonesia despite its history of corruption and violence in soccer.

The most recent event, last October,

Argentina offered itself as the venue as soon as Indonesia's withdrawal was announced.

This Monday, after receiving the endorsement of the Argentine Government, FIFA confirmed that the South American country will host the tournament of 24 national teams that will be played between May 20 and June 11.

It is a second chance for the Argentine team led by Javier Mascherano, former captain of the senior team, who had lost three of his four games in the South American last February in Colombia and was left out of the World Cup.

The elimination in the South American had been a crisis for the national team, which had just seen the senior team win the World Cup in Qatar and looked forward to the new generation of youngsters who would take over.

Champion in 1979, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2007,

The biggest victory, however, is for Claudio

Tapia, the president of the AFA who took office in March 2017. The death of Julio Grondona, the man who dominated Argentine soccer for 35 years until 2014, had left a power vacuum in the AFA that ended in a voting scandal of 75 people that ended in a tie and two interim governments.

Tapia took office in 2017 and since then he has been surrounded by complaints about favoring his team, the humble Barracas Central from Buenos Aires, which was promoted to the First Division in 2021. But the victory in the World Cup in Qatar, his faith in coach Lionel Scaloni, who He went from unknown to world champion, and his good relationship with the players of the national team have given him a ball of air.

In recent months, Tapia has allowed himself, for example, to move the Argentine Super Cup to Saudi Arabia.

The U-20 World Cup is another sign of the influence he has gained in FIFA and South American soccer circles.

While the country celebrates and a large part of national football looks askance at it, one of the head phrases of the AFA president resounds: "Don't try to understand it... enjoy it".

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