Group A – a case of minnows
New Zealand’s tournament record is bad. They failed to qualify for any of the 14 editions of the U-20 World Cup between 1979 and 2005. Since then, they have made slight progress to book three participations – all of which saw them suffer a group stage exit in 2007, 2011 and 2013. This time, they have qualified as hosts.
Half of the job might have been done but there are bigger challenges to face. They need to add to the four goals they’ve scored in their entire FIFA U-20 World Cup history. However, things do not look very good for the Junior All-Whites. They enter the competition on the back of three consecutive defeats but can they be confident of getting their campaign on a positive note looking at their opponents, Ukraine?
The Ukrainians qualified through the 2014 UEFA European U-19 Championship. They were placed in Group B with Bulgaria, Serbia and eventual champions Germany. They didn’t progress from it but with 4 points, they did enough to place third in their table to eventually qualify for the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Myanmar will be making their debut. They overpowered Thailand, Iran and the United Arab Emirates on their way to the semi-finals of the 2014 AFC U19 Championship where they finally succumbed 3-2 to eventual winners Qatar.
Group A’s favourites
Hands down, the biggest team in Group A is USA even though they do not possess the tag of 2015 CONCACAF U-20 Championship titleholders. Panama proved too strong for Team USA but the latter bounced back in the Playoff stage by beating El Salvador to book their tickets to New Zealand.
The calibre of their group opponents at the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup means they can realistically dream about reaching the next round for the first time since Canada 2007 when they finished as quarter-finalists.
2015 U-20 FIFA World Cup schedule: When and where to watch Group A’s matches live
See below for live stream info and TV listings of Group A’s fixtures. For full broadcast listings, visit LiveSoccerTV.com’s 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup competition page.
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This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
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