The US Under-20 national team may be breathing a sigh of relief after the four six-team pots for Tuesday’s draw for the World Cup were revealed Monday.
Three CONCACAF teams were placed in Pot 3 along with three from CONMEBOL, meaning they won’t face traditional powers Brazil, Colombia or Uruguay in the group stage.
Pot 1 is made up of tournament seeds, New Zealand (hosts), Germany, Qatar, the to-be-determined African champions, Mexico and Argentina. Pot 2 is made up of the three remaining qualifiers from the Asian Football Confederation and three from Africa, with the confederation holding its qualifying tournament in March. Pot 4 consists of five European qualifiers and the other Oceania qualifier, Fiji.
Each group will include one team from each pot. Starting with New Zealand, the pots will be emptied in order of one through four, with the groups filled sequentially.
The draw for this summer’s tournament in New Zealand will be streamed live on FIFA.com from Auckland’s SKYCITY Convention Center at 11:30 pm ET.
FIFA U-20 WORLD CUP POTS
Pot 1: New Zealand, Germany, Qatar, CAF Champion, Mexico, Argentina
Pot 2: Korea DPR, Myanmar, Uzbekistan, CAF 2, CAF 3, CAF 4
Pot 3: Honduras, Panama, USA, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay
Pot 4: Fiji, Austria, Hungary, Portugal, Serbia, Ukraine
