Under-20 World Cup in Argentina: matches, venues, opening match, teams, TV and one-to-one from Mascherano’s selection

He Sub 20 worldthe youth competition that gave birth to some of the greatest players in world football, such as Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, will be held in Argentina from this Saturday 20 to 11 June.

The World Cup was originally supposed to be held at Indonesiabut in that country with the largest Muslim population in the world, the presence of the newcomer in the competition began to be contested at the government level Israelwith which it does not maintain diplomatic relations.

For lack of guarantees, Fifa he took off the organization and designated Argentina a month after the start of the tournament. Although the competition did not qualify, the South American country made stadiums and training centers available for the 24 qualifiers.

Another non-secondary detail for the institution is the fanaticism of Argentinian fanswhich was boosted after winning the World Cup in Qatar in December and will help give the competition a more colorful picture.

Sub 20 World Cup: the players who will be absent

Clubs are not forced to give in to players at the World Cup and weighed on several teams.

The Argentine Alexander Garnacho (Manchester United), the Brazilians endric (Palmeiras/Real Madrid) e Victor Rocco (Atletico Paranaense), the Uruguayan Alvaro Rodríguez (Real Madrid), the British Rico Lewis (Juventus) and his figure Carney Chukwuemeka (Chelsea) and Colombian Jhon Durán (Aston Villa) are the most notable absentees.

Sub 20 World Cup: players to follow

There are several players without as much billing as the absent ones, but who due to their conditions have caught the attention of big teams in Europe or have already emigrated.

Some of them are flying Massimo Perrone of Manchester City and the winger Matias Soule from Juventus to Argentina; Ecuadorian midfielder Kendry Paezof Independiente del Valle but with a future at Chelsea, like the captain of Brazil, Andrew Santoscurrently in Vasco da Gama.

Of the Europeans, the French striker malamine efekele (Monaco) and among the Africans the Senegalese winger Samba Diallo. The front Kevin Mura (Wolfsburg) leads US offense.

Sub 20 World Cup: the host stadiums

As the local teams are in full competition with the local league and the Copa Libertadores, the youth league will be played mainly in the interior of the country, with four fields selected.

The venues are the stadium Mendoza’s Argentine Falklands; the San Juan Bicentennial; Mother of Cities in Santiago del Estero and Diego Maradona de La Platasouthern suburb of Buenos Aires.

Candidate selections

There is always room for a surprise in the U20 World Cup. The last champion was Ukraine – did not qualify for the current edition – and second South Korea.

Even though the last four editions have been won by European sides, South America will be looking to break that streak with the hosts Argentina AND Brazilthe two best winners of the tournament since 1977 with six and five titles each.

the European monarch England emerges as the main threat from the Old Continent, just like Senegalwho won the qualifying tournament in Africa.

Israel AND Dominican Republic They are the rookies in the competition. Dominicans also qualified for soccer at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Match schedule and times

The Argentine national team will be part of group A with Uzbekistan, Guatemala and New Zealand. Brazil, another of the great candidates, was placed in group D, the most complex a priori, together with Italy, Nigeria and the Dominican Republic, rookies in the tournament.

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).

Opening ceremony and party

​However, as is customary at the start of any FIFA competition, the first match of the tournament will not feature the host team. In this case, Guatemala vs. New Zealand, for group A, e United States versus Ecuadorfor B, they are in charge of opening the league from 3pm.

Three hours later, at 18:00, it will be the Argentine team’s turn to receive Uzbekistan, in zone A, together with Fiji AND Slovakia will be measured on side B.

Following the two rounds that make up the first day of the World Cup, it was announced between the end of the first (3.00 pm) and the previous one of the second (6.00 pm) will be the moment in which the presentation and inauguration ceremony will take placeprecisely in the Madre de Ciudades stadium in Santiago del Estero, site of the debut of the national team.

Still without official confirmation, the event would have started at 17:00, one hour before the Argentinian debut. As planned, Patricia Sosa It would be the person in charge of singing the national anthem and there will also be representatives of all participating countries with cultural events from each of them.

Also, honoring the province where the ceremony will take place, there will be a ballet and artistic performances typical of Santiago del Estero, with a possible surprise factor throughout the presentation.

Sub 20 World Cup: all matches on TV

All matches of the U20 World Cup will be televised through Public TV, TyC Sports and DSports, DirecTV’s sports signal, as well as its streaming services: DGO, Flow, Telecentro Play, TyC Sports Play and Cont.ar.

The conformation of the establishment with Mascherano in the lead

In little more than three months, the youth teams went from “failure”, as Mascherano defined it, due to being excluded in the first round of the South American tournament played in Colombia (they finished seventh out of ten teams) to remaining for the place for the seat and be one of the candidates for the title.

Although it has been a tournament organized by FIFA since 1977, clubs are not obliged to give up their players and Mascherano has suffered from the loss of three important figures: Alejandro Garnacho, of Manchester United; Facundo Goodnight, of Brighton; and Nicolás Paz, from Real Madrid.

The former midfielder and point of reference for the World Cups in 2010, 2014 and 2018 has finally completed the list of 21 players with nine members of the squad that was in Colombia at the end of January: goalkeeper Federico Gomes Gerth (Tigre), defenders Lautaro Di Lollo (Boca Juniors), Agustín Giay (San Lorenzo) and Valentín Gómez (Vélez Sarsfield), midfielders Máximo Perrone (Manchester City) and Gino Infantino (Rosario Central) and forward Ignacio Maestro Puch (Atlético Tucumán), Alejo Véliz (Rosario Central) and Brian Aguirre (Newell’s Old Boys).

Despite the name rotation, the only players who hadn’t been part of the Mascherano cycle that started in January 2022 in place of Fernando “Bocha” Batista are Racing Club defender Tomás Avilés, who curiously played the South American for the Chilean outfit, and goalkeepers Nicolás Cláa, from Lanús, and Lucas Lavagnino, from River Plate.