Heading into any international tournament, no United States youth squad should ever take anything for granted.
But Thursday’s Under-20 World Cup draw certainly did no favors for the U.S. U20 Women’s National Team. Held in Rennes, France, the host of this year’s edition of the tournament, the USA was drawn in Group C, with Japan, Paraguay and Spain.
On paper, it’s a massive challenge for the United States, and raises the possibility that the U20s could miss out on a quarterfinal spot for the first time in the history of the competition (the Women’s U20 World Cup started in 2002). In the eight previous editions of the tournament, the USA has won it three times, finished fourth twice, third once and made the quarterfinals the other two times.
