In the early morning of May 29, Beijing time, the U20 World Cup (also known as the World Youth Championship) held in Argentina ended all the group stages, and all the top 16 teams were released, including Argentina, Brazil, England, South Korea, these favorites, compared to the South American 5 teams all qualified, only South Korea and Uzbekistan in the Asian zone, and the top 16 of the World Youth Championship in Japan was released! FIFA 120th in history: First time in the competition, win France + draw South Korea and Iraq are eliminated at the same time.
The World Junior Championships has now expanded to 24 teams, with 16 knockout teams, including six top two teams and four best group thirds.
After 3 rounds of group competition, Argentina, Uzbekistan and New Zealand in Group A; United States, Ecuador, Slovakia in list B; Colombia, Israel in Group C; Brazil, Italy, Nigeria in Group D; England, Uruguay and Tunisia in Group E; The Gambia and South Korea in Group F advanced to the round of 16.
New Zealand, Slovakia, Nigeria and Tunisia were the four best group thirds, while Japan and France, who were third in the other two groups, were eliminated due to low goal difference.
According to the rules of the 1/8 final, Argentina plays Nigeria, England plays Italy, South Korea plays Ecuador, Uzbekistan vs Israel, Gambia vs Uruguay, USA vs New Zealand, Colombia vs Slovakia and Brazil vs Tunisia.
Of the top 16 teams, only The Gambia made history by participating for the first time. Located in West Africa, close to the Atlantic Ocean, the Gambia has a land area of only 11,000 square kilometers, making it one of the smallest countries on the African continent, with a population of less than 3 million and a poor agricultural country.
In addition, the Gambia men's national team has a low presence in world football, has never participated in the World Cup finals, and only ranks 120th in the latest world ranking, both of which are inferior to the Chinese men's team.
Originally, the Gambia could appear at the 2021 World Youth Championships, but due to the cancellation of this World Youth Championships, the participation was postponed. In this World Youth Championship, the Gambia defeated Honduras 2-1 in the first round of the group stage, won the first World Youth Championship in the team's history, overturned France 2-1 in the second round of the group stage, accumulated 6 points in 2 consecutive wins, and made history again, and drew 0-0 with South Korea in the final round of the group stage to ensure the first place in the group.
In the next 1/8 final, the Gambia will face Uruguay, a traditional South American powerhouse, and it will be more difficult.