U-20 World Cup draw kind on Spain

Spain have been handed what the Spanish press describe as a “relatively good“ draw in the FIFA World U-20 Cup.

The draw was made in the early hours of Thursday morning in the Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala Convention Centre in Cartagena, Colombia – the host country, for the competition which will run from July 29th until 20th August. Coach Julen Lopetegui saw his side enter the draw as one of the top seeds in Pot A alongside the likes of Argentina, England and France.

It was determined that they would then be playing in Group C, where the games are based in the city of Manizales, alongside Costa Rica, Equador and Australia. Though on paper the teams appear to be light work, Spain will have to make sure they are motivated for such games which are all held in the Estadio Palogrande.

23 teams qualified for the compeition, including hosts Colombia. Each group winner and runner-up teams, as well as the best four third-placed teams, will qualify for the first round of the knockout stage (round of 16)

Spain’s match times have also been deemed as very suitable, with their first game against Costa Rica held at 22:00 (Spanish time, similar to many La Liga games) on July 31st. August 3rd will see them face Ecuador before moving onto Australia on August 6th – both of these games are held at Midnight, Spanish time.

A: Colombia, France, Mali and South Korea

B:  Portugal, Cameroon,  Uruguay, Solomon Islands/or New Zealand

C: SPAIN, Costa Rica, Australia and Ecuador

D: Nigeria, Guatemala, Saudi Arabia and Croatia

E: Brazil, Egypt, Panama and Austria

F: Argentina. México, North Korea and England

N.B: Solomon Islands and New Zealand still have to face each other in a playoff, to decide who advances from the Oceania region.

Tags: Colombia, Espana, Spain, Sub-20, Under-20, World Cup