The U.S. has been placed in Bowl C in advance of tomorrow’s FIFA World Youth Championship Draw in Abu Dhabi, where the U.S. will learn their three first-round opponents for the under-20 world championship that takes place in the United Arab Emirates from March 25 - April 16, 2003.  The results of the draw, along with reaction from U.S. players and staff can be found on ussoccer.com tomorrow immediately following the events in Abu Dhabi.

 

Canada, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Mali and Burkina Faso join the U.S. in Bowl C.

 

The way the teams have been allocated in bowls, the U.S. is guaranteed to be joined in their group by a team from CONMEBOL and UEFA, plus Australia or a team from AFC. 

 

The draw procedure dictates that teams will be drawn from their bowls and placed into Groups A-F, starting with Bowl A.  As each team name is drawn from each bowl, a number (from 1-4) will be drawn to determine the team's position in each group (ie. A2, A3, etc.).  Two exceptions to the procedure will be made. 

• UAE has been designated as A1.
• Panama and Mexico can not share the same group as their CONCACAF foes Canada and the USA. 

 

 The four bowls for tomorrow’s draw:

 

Bowl A

United Arab Emirates

Korea

Japan

Saudi Arabia

Uzbekistan

Australia

 

Bowl B

Spain

Germany

Slovakia

Ireland Republic

Czech Republic

England

 

Bowl C

Egypt

Ivory Coast

Mali

Burkina Faso

Canada

USA

 

Bowl D

Argentina

CONMEBOL 2

CONMEBOL 3

CONMEBOL 4

Panama

Mexico

 

CONMEBOL, which has four spots in the World Youth Championship Field,  concludes their qualifying tournament tonight.