Costa Rica will kick off the U-20 Women’s World Cup on Wednesday, the first major global event for national football teams after COVID-19, in a tournament in which Japan will defend the title in the face of threats from Brazil, Spain and the United States.
From August 10 to 28, the Central American country will host the first FIFA World Cup for teams, in any of its categories, after the FIFA U-17 Men’s World Cup held in Brazil in 2019, the last before the World Cup for football. the arrival of the epidemic.
The Costa Rican event will be followed by the U-17 Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and the World Cup in Qatar, the tournament all football fans have been waiting for, after more than two and a half years without the World Cup.
Covid-19 was also the reason for the postponement of this World Cup, which was supposed to take place in 2020 in Costa Rica and Panama, which the organization finally refused due to the situation caused by the pandemic.
In total, 16 teams will win the title in 32 matches, which will be played at the National Stadium in San Jose And at Alejandro Moreira Soto Stadium, in Alajuela, northwest of the Costa Rican capital.
Brazil vs Spain to whet your appetite
Brazil and Spain, two of the favorites to snatch the title from Japan, will meet each other on Wednesday in opening Group A, which also includes local Costa Rica and Australia.
The Iberians arrive as the new champions of Europe and runners-up in the world. The Spanish coach, Pedro Lopez, will have the strengths of Selma Paralolo (Barcelona) and Viama Benitez (Valencia) in attack.
But Brazil arrived unbeatably, after their landslide victory in the last South American Championship, where they won their ninth title in the region, undefeated and undefeated. But Brazilian coach Jonas Jureas does not want confidence.
Yurias will seek glory with Gabriela Barbieri (International) in goal, Lauren Leal (Atletico Madrid) in defence, Vitoria’ Yaya Ferreira (São Paulo) in midfield and Maria Dodinha Rodriguez (São Paulo) in attack.
On that first day, and for group B, Germany will also face Colombia, from the striker and Copa America runner-upLinda Caicedo, Mexico v New Zealand.
Japan to defend the crown
Japan, the only women’s team that can boast of winning the World Cup In all categories, he will defend the title he won in France 2018.
Samurai Blue, with striker Yuzuki Yamamoto and midfielder Imo Oyama, will seek glory again, but “without any pressure”, according to his coach, Futoshi Ikeda, who believes the key will be in each team’s “environment” and about how “fast” they are. Player development during the tournament.
On Thursday, Japan will play the Netherlands and the United States will play Ghana in Group D, while France will play Nigeria and Canada will play South Korea in Group C.
Americans come to Costa Rica, after shining in the goals point in the CONCACAF championship before the World Championship, but with concern about the search for A title they haven’t achieved in a decade.
France, with its promises Cyril Blanc (Montpellier), Lorena Fazer (Paris Saint-Germain), Vicki Picchu (Olympique Lyonnais) and Hua Sangar (Paris Saint-Germain) will, at the very least, seek to reach the semi-finals four years ago.
Germany and the United States each host three FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup finals, followed by North Korea twice, and Japan one.
Programming History 1 (Columbian time)
Wednesday 10 August
Germany vs. Colombia – 12:00 PM
New Zealand vs. Mexico – 3:00 PM
Spain vs. Brazil – 6:00 PM
Thursday 11 August
Ghana vs. United States – 12:00 PM
Japan vs. NETHERLANDS – 3:00 PM
France vs. Nigeria – 6:00 PM
Canada vs. South Korea – 9:00 pm.
The FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup can be watched live on Direct Sports.
With information from Agence France-Presse.
