Under 20 World Cup in Argentina: how Uzbekistan, Guatemala and New Zealand play, the three rivals of the Mascherano national team

Uzbekistan will be the first rival of the Argentina inside Sub 20 world. The confrontation between the Asian champion and the landlord will also be the opening party of the tournament. They will clash on May 20 at the Madre de Ciudades stadium in Santiago del Estero. Then the leading team Javier Mascherano will be seen with Guatemala AND New Zelandrespectively the other two teams that make up group A.

There are six groups into which the 24 participating teams are divided. This means that all first-placed players, all second-placed players and even the four best third-placed players advance to the round of 16. The path of the national team, consequently, can take three different paths in case of failure to be eliminated in the initial round.

If the zone wins it will go against one of the third best. 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).

If he finishes second in the initial phase, the second in group C (Senegal, Colombia, Japan and Israel) will be waiting for him. And if he finishes in third place and is one of those to go through, he could play the winners of the same group or the winners of group B (United States, Ecuador, Fiji and Slovakia).

Beyond the different scenarios to go in search of the seventh youth world championship, the concrete fact is that Mascherano already knows his first three rivals. WhatHow do they play? What backgrounds do they have? What’s your figure? These are all questions that we will try to answer in the following paragraphs.

Uzbekistan, the king of Asia

The Under-20 World Cup in Argentina will mark the fifth appearance for Uzbekistan, who have just been crowned Asian champions for the first time in their history after beating Iraq in the final. directed by Ravshan Khaydarov they will try 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 2003 edition of the United Arab Emirates, the result of which 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 football. Is that since he took the reins of the youth teams of Asian football, he captured the continental title among the Sub 23 in 2018 and now he has repeated it with the Sub 20.

With a past as a former defender in his days as a lowly footballer, Khaydarov has important scrolls as a coach. He was a senior team selector from 2002 to 2005 and then, after working at various clubs, established himself as a youth team coach.

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, his former club trainer.

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, who only played in Colombia 2011 with a decent performance culminating in the round of 16.

Even more dignified and with epic tones was the qualification for the next World Cup in a story that began with a 5-1 defeat against El Salvador and culminated with qualification after a show of character and resilience which also saw victories on penalties over Canada and Mexico -arrived undefeated with 18 goals for and none against-. Saves by Jorge Moreno, their goalkeeper, saved three penalties in their last series and took them to the semi-finals – where they similarly lost to 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 a long career as a coach of minor teams until he had the opportunity to show his knowledge in the Sub 20 Guatemalan. he was also an interim in the major-.

The stars of the team are Arquímides Ordóñez, a very hot striker who plays for FC Cincinnati in Major League Soccer in the United States, and the aforementioned Moreno, a native of Huehuetenango and goalkeeper of the popular Comunicaciones, who led the team to the dream of World Cup with his Dibu Martínez-style saves on penalties.

New Zealand, figure repeated

The New Zealanders will have their seventh participation in the Under-20 World Cup in Argentina, where they will play their sixth consecutive tournament – in the last three they have 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 championship, where he shone first with shorts (New Zealand Knights and Watakere United) and later as a coach. He has been in charge of the Under 17s, the Under 20s (at one time he did double duty and was an assistant at MLS’ Colorado Rapids) and the Under 23s. He has acquired so much prestige that he is currently head coach of the senior team ad interim.

The figure? Jay Herdman, 18, was just voted best player at the Tahiti Under-19 Oceania Championship, which was played last November. And he has very football roots: the Invercargill-born boy is the son of Canada men’s coach, John Herdman, and plays for the Vancouver Whitecaps in the North American country. He plays for New Zealand but could also be eligible for Canada and England. Yes, he’s New Zealand’s Grenache.

Herdmann is not alone. Is that Oliver Colloty is the ideal partner of him. It 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 ensure that scouts from the big Premier League teams have him in their sights.