A first preview of what the U20 World Cup will be

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The World Cup of Poland already has its 24 classifieds and is preparing to start on May 23 

With the qualification of the remaining African nations and the four South Americans in the South American sub-20 held in Chile, everything is ready for the FIFA World Cup, in this category, to be raised in three months. It will be held in Poland from May 23 to June 15.

Leer en español: Un primer adelanto de lo que será el Mundial Sub20

Only the draw is needed, but before this occurs, LatinAmerican Post shares a first look at the event. Do not miss our next article analyzing the groups and the possibilities for the American teams.

The cities that will host the contest are Lublin, Lodz, Gdynia, Bielsko Biala, Bydgoszcz, and Tychy. Futbolred affirms that there will only be 6 venues of the World Cup and that 24 national teams will seek the title.

The quotas were distributed as follows, 6 for Europe:

• Poland
• Ukraine
• France
• Italy
• Norway
• Portugal

The remaining quotas are divided into 4 for Asia:

• Saudi Arabia
• Taste
• South Korea
• Japan

Ppara Africa:

• Senegal
• Nigeria
• South Africa
• Mali

The classifieds of South America are:

• Ecuador
• Argentina
• Uruguay
• Colombia

The Concacaf has these squads:

• Mexico
• U.S
• Honduras
• Panama

Finally, Oceania has 2 temas, which are:

• New Zealand
• Tahiti

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The draw for the group stage, which will be held on Sunday, February 24, at the Gdynia Arena. It will be based on a classification of sporting results, which will be distributed to the 24 participants in four drums with six teams each.

Such classification is based on the points obtained in the last five world sub-20s (three points for victory, and one for a tie). The achievements of the editions of 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017 will be taken into account, according to FIFA's suggestions.

The group stage will be held between May 15 and 31, leaving the second round of matches between June 2 and 4, the rooms on days 7 and 8, the two semifinals on the 11th, and the 15th the final in Lódź.

Possibilities of the American selections

Obviously, it is much easier to determine the chances of the Conmebol and Concacaf selections with greater precision according to the group and fixture that they play. However, let's do an exercise to review the national teams that showed level in their qualifying stage.

In these categories, every other year, the players are different; therefore, favoritism is difficult to pin down. Without going very far, the two finalists of the last edition of South Korea 2017, England, and Venezuela, not even classified this time.

Let's start with Ecuador, South American champion. Is it a favorite to win the U-20 World Cup in Poland? Bendito Futbol made the consultation directly with the technician of the meridionals, Jorge Célico, in the El Teniente de Rancagua stadium, after the 3-0 triumph over Venezuela, which gave them the title.

Cellic preferred to be cautious. "No, no, no, you have to see how we got in. Surely there will be great teams." In turn, Patricio Lara, his assistant, was also warned in a radio program against the favoritism of a team that amazed everyone in the qualifier in Chile.

"The preparation started as soon as we secured the qualification, we will probably have several friendlies on the way because we want to prepare as well as possible and make a good World Cup," said the Argentine collaborator about a team that was ahead of Argentina and Uruguay and eliminated Brazil.

In the case of Central America, FIFA highlights the US team that runs Tab Ramos and has a team with significant professional experience as Ayo Akinola, top scorer of Toronto FC and remarkable performance in the U-17 World Cup in India. If we talk about Mexico, for example, the player of the Betis of Spain, the end Diego Lainez, and who already scored in his debut in the Europa League, is his maximum reference.

Although it did not qualify for Poland 2019, Costa Rica also showed its quality with players like defender Fernan Faerron and attacker Andy Reyes, players of LASK Linz of Austria. Despite this, it was Honduras and Panama were the teams that remained with the remaining two places in the area, which shows that these Central American teams will not be easy in Poland 2019.

LatinAmerican Post | Onofre Zambrano
Translated from "Un primer adelanto de lo que será el Mundial Sub20"