Youth & High School

U-20s to face Brazil in World Cup
March 5, 2007

The USA's will play Korea Republic, Poland and Brazil in Group D of the 2007 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Canada, which will take place from 30 June – 22 July.

The USA opens against Korea Republic on 30 June, then faces Poland on 3 July and concludes group play three days later against four-time U-20 world champions, Brazil. The Korea Republic and Poland games will be played at The Olympic Stadium in Montreal, while Thomas Rongen's side will head to Ottawa to face Brazil at Frank Clair Stadium.

"Anytime you go to a World Cup and you're drawn with Brazil it's exciting,” said Rongen. “For us to go out and measure ourselves against the best in the world is what this Under-20 competition is all about. With Poland and South Korea complementing Brazil we have a very interesting and tough group, but saying that, all 24 teams at this stage deserve to be there so there are no easy games.”

The 24-team field is divided into six groups of four, with the top two teams from each group and the top four (of six) third-place teams advancing to the Round of 16.

The USA qualified for Canada with a first-place finish in Group A of the CONCACAF U-20 Final Round Qualifying Tournament in Panama in January. The U-20s opened the tournament with a 4-1 victory against Haiti, which featured a hat-trick from Harvard's Andre Akpan. A 0-0 tie with Guatemala followed before Panama were thrashed, 5-0.