England, Argentina in with South Korea in U20 World Cup

Argentina’s former soccer player Pablo Aimar holds up the name of South Africa during the official draw for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea 2017 in Suwon, South Korea

England and Argentina will renew their soccer rivalry in the group stage of the Under-20 World Cup in May.

At the official draw yesterday, England and Argentina were placed in Group A along with tournament host South Korea and Guinea.

The draw took place in the city of Suwon, just south of the capital Seoul, and featured former Argentina stars Diego Maradona and Pablo Aimar, who won the trophy as players in 1979 and 1997 respectively.

“Argentina has good players but they have to improve if they want to get through,” Maradona said. “But I don’t see them as a favourite.”

Italy and Uruguay will meet in Group D along with Japan and South Africa, while the United States was grouped with Ecuador, Senegal and Saudi Arabia in Group F.

New Zealand, the 2015 tournament host, was placed in Group E with France, Honduras and Vietnam. Germany, Venezuela, Vanuatu and Mexico are in Group A.

Portugal will be expected to progress from Group C, which also contains Iran, Costa Rica and Zambia.

The tournament kicks off May 20 and the final is scheduled for June 11. Serbia, which claimed its first Under-20 World Cup title with a dramatic extra-time winner against Brazil in 2015, did not qualify for the 2017 edition in South Korea. AP