FIFA took the Under 20 World Cup away from Indonesia and is it moving to Argentina?

What were rumors, it was confirmed this Wednesday: The International Football Federation (FIFA) removed the Under 20 World Cup from Indonesia due to extra-sports conflicts and the event scheduled to be played between May 20 and June 11 does not have a venue. The Argentine Football Association (AFA), whose team did not qualify, She formally applied to be a hostess and the chance of that being the case is high.

“Following today’s meeting between the FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, and his counterpart in the Football Federation of Indonesia (PSSI), Erik Thorhir, FIFA has decided to withdraw Indonesia as the host country of the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2023 due to the current circumstances,” the soccer parent entity said in a statement on Wednesday. Although he did not give details, The determination is due to the Asian country’s refusal to allow Israel to participate, with which diplomatic relations are broken.

FIFA also explained that “the new host country” of the World Cup for under 20s “will be announced as soon as possible” and that the dates established for its start and end will not “undergo modifications”. Also, he anticipated that the PSSI will be sanctioned.

At Viamonte 1366 and on the property Lionel Andres Messi from Ezeiza, Claudio Tapiarelaxes”. Knowing the conflict between Indonesia and Israel and the possibility that FIFA will take the venue away from the Asians, formalized Argentina’s willingness to host through a notification sent by the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol). The longing has, mainly, a sporting objective: The albiceleste did not qualify for the championship because they had a bad performance in the South American Sub 20 of Colombia What did Brazil win? and will play it instead of Indonesia in case of being local.

In case of receiving the headquarters as in 2001 -he was champion- and This Thursday could be a key day because it turned out that Tapia will meet with Infantino at the Conmebol headquarters in Paraguay-, Argentina has several questions to solve although none is an obstacle, much less in the current context in which, after the senior team won the Qatar 2022 World Cup, all the planets are aligned. In the first place, the Sub 20 team does not have a technical director because Javier Mascherano he resigned after the unease in the qualifying continental tournament and there is no replacement in sight because, due to that bad result, the team has no competition ahead.

The other question is in which stadiums matches could be played, taking into account that they can only be used during the World Cup extension for that purpose. So, venues such as the Monumental, the Bombonera, the Cilindro de Avellaneda or the Libertadores de América are ruled out because River, Boca, Racing and Independiente are in full season.

In a similar situation are Mendoza, where Godoy Cruz usually plays local, and Mario Alberto Kempes de Córdoba that Talleres, Belgrano and Instituto often use. However, as these clubs have their own pitches, they could adapt while the World Cup lasts and use both stadiums, one of the best in the country. There are no obstacles to organizing matches in the Madre de Ciudades de Santiago del Estero, in which the Argentine team thrashed Curaçao 7-0 in their second friendly after being world champion; in the Bicentennial of San Juan and Father Martearena de Salta, to mention a few. He Jose Maria Minella Mar del Plata, meanwhile, is not in good condition and requires a deep remodeling that is impossible to achieve in the short term.

The World Cup has 23 qualified teams who await, in addition to knowing the new headquarters, the draw that had been scheduled for March 30 and was suspended due to Indonesia’s position that Israel not compete. Without the Asian cast, the 24th team will be from the country that FIFA designates as the new host.

For South America they accessed the World Cup Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia and Ecuador; through Europe England, France, Italy, Israel and Slovakia while the last world champion Ukraine was left out; for asia South Korea, Japan Uzbekistan, New Zealand and Iraq; by Oceania Fiji; for africa Gambia, Senegal, Tunisia and Nigeria; and for Central America and North America, the United States, Honduras, Guatemala and Dominican Republic, who is the only rookie.

The 24 teams will be divided into six groups of four members each, in which all will face each other -three games-. The two leaders of each zone plus the four best third-placed teams will advance to the round of 16. Since then, they will be direct elimination crosses until the definition.

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