Uzbekistan will be
Argentina
's first rival
in the
Sub 20 World Cup
.
The confrontation between the Asian champion and the host will also be
the opening match
of the tournament.
They will collide on May 20 at the Madre de Ciudades stadium in Santiago del Estero.
Then, the team led by
Javier Mascherano
will face
Guatemala
and
New Zealand
, the other two teams that make up group A, respectively.
There are six groups into which the 24 participating teams are divided.
This means that all the first places, all the second places and even the four best third places will enter the round of 16.
The path of the national team, consequently, can take three different paths in case of not being eliminated in the initial round.
If he wins the zone he will go against one of the best third parties.
It can be group C (Senegal, Colombia, Japan and Israel), group D (Italy, Brazil, Nigeria and the Dominican Republic) or group E (Uruguay, England, Iraq and Tunisia).
Nico Paz, one of the figures of Argentina.
Photo: AP
If he finishes second in the initial phase, the second in group C (Senegal, Colombia, Japan and Israel) will await him.
And if he ends up in third place and is one of those who go through to the round, he could play against the winner of that same group or with the winner of group B (United States, Ecuador, Fiji and Slovakia).
Beyond the different scenarios to go in search of the seventh youth world cup, the concrete thing is that Mascherano already knows his first three rivals.
How do they play
?
What background do they have?
What is your figures?
These are all questions that will be tried to be answered in the following paragraphs.
Uzbekistan, the king of Asia
The Under 20 World Cup in Argentina will mark the fifth appearance for Uzbekistan, which has just been crowned Asian champion for the first time in its history after beating Iraq in the final.
Led by
Ravshan Khaydarov,
they will seek to surpass their best performance, which is having reached the quarterfinals in the 2013 and 2015 editions. They have a precedent with Argentina in the United Arab Emirates 2003 edition, whose result was 2-1 for the "Albiceleste" with Mascherano, Carlos Tevez and Fernando Cavenaghi on the pitch.
Khaydarov, 61, is a sort of José Pekerman of Uzbek soccer.
It is that since he took the reins of the youth teams of Asian football, he achieved the continental title among the Sub 23 in 2018 and now he repeated with the Sub 20.
With a past as a former defender in his days as a modest footballer, Khaydarov has important scrolls as a coach.
He was the selector of the senior team between 2002 and 2005 and then, after working in various clubs, he established himself as coach of the youth teams.
In his hands he has two rough diamonds.
They are defender Abdukodir Khusanov, who plays for Energetik Minsk, in the Belarusian first division, and attacking midfielder Abbosbek Fayzullaev, who has already won two Uzbek first division titles and a local Super Cup with Pakhtakor, the former club. from your coach.
Guatemala and a second chance
Guatemala will be the second rival of Mascherano's team in the Sub 20 World Cup in Argentina.
It will be the second participation of the Central American team, which only played in Colombia 2011 with a decent performance that culminated in the round of 16.
Even more dignified and with overtones of epic was the qualification for the upcoming World Cup in a story that began with a 5-1 defeat by a landslide against El Salvador and culminated in qualifying after a show of character and resilience that included victories. by penalties over Canada and Mexico -he arrived undefeated with 18 goals for and none against-.
The saves by Jorge Moreno, his goalkeeper, saved three penalties in the last series and led his team to the semifinals - where they lost in the same way with the Dominican Republic - and qualifying.
The DT is Rafael Loredo Silva, a 65-year-old Mexican, who among other clubs played for Necaxa and who had an extensive career as a coach of lesser teams until he got the opportunity to show his knowledge in the Guatemalan Sub 20 -He was also an interim in the major-.
The team's stars are Arquímides Ordóñez, a very spicy striker who plays for FC Cincinnati in Major League Soccer in the United States, and the aforementioned Moreno, a native of Huehuetenango and goalkeeper for the popular Comunicaciones, who led the team to the World Cup dream with his Dibu Martínez-style saves in the penalty shootout.
New Zealand, repeated figure
The New Zealanders will have their seventh participation in the Under 20 World Cups in Argentina, where they will play their sixth consecutive tournament - in the last three they reached the round of 16 - after being crowned Sub 19 continental champions.
The coach is Darren Bazeley, an Englishman born 50 years ago in Northampton.
As a footballer, among other clubs in his country, he was a defender for Wolverhampton and towards the end of his career he ended up in the New Zealand league, where he first shone with the shorts (New Zealand Knights and Watakere United) and later as a coach.
He was in charge of the Under 17, the Under 20 -at one time he did double duty and was an assistant at Colorado Rapids of the MLS) and the Under 23. He gained so much prestige that he is currently the head coach of the senior team on an interim basis .
The figure?
Jay Herdman, 18, has just been voted the best player at the Tahiti Under-19 Oceania Championship, which was played last November.
And he has very soccer roots: the boy born in Invercargill is the son of Canada's men's coach, John Herdman, and plays for the Vancouver Whitecaps in the North American country.
He plays for the Kiwis but could also be eligible for Canada and England.
Yes, he is the Grenache from New Zealand.
Herdmann is not alone.
It's just that Oliver Colloty is his ideal partner.
This is a 19-year-old boy who plays for Melville United, from the city of Hamilton, and who has just scored nine goals in six games played in Tahiti.
They assure that the scouters of the great teams of the Premier League have him in their sights.
look too
The explanation of the alleged request by FIFA to rename the Malvinas Argentinas stadium in Mendoza for the Sub 20 World Cup