U.S. under-20 men

Paraguay, Germany, South Korea are Group F opponents in 2003 world championships.

Former Major League Soccer coach Thomas Rongen will take the United States under-20 men to the 2003 world championships in the United Arab Emirates.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (Wednesday, January 29, 2003) -- The United States under-20 men will face Paraguay, Germany and South Korea in Group F preliminary-round play in the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship March 25-April 16 in United Arab Emirates.

As the result of today's draw here, the U.S. opens against Paraguay March 27, followed by meetings with Germany March 30 and South Korea April 2.

The top two teams from each of six four-nation groups, plus the top four third-place teams advance to the Round of 16 which starts April 5. The quarterfinals will be held April 9, with the semifinals April 12. The championship and third-place matches are set for April 16.

"Any time you go to a world championship, any opponents you draw are going to be challenging in their own ways," U.S. head coach Thomas Rongen said in a press release. "We're in with one of the European powerhouses, a very interesting South American team and, if the last World Cup is any indication, an up-and-coming team in (South) Korea. This group poses some great challenges, but at the end of the day we're quite pleased with the draw and looking forward to meeting this challenge head on."

Paraguay, Germany and South Korea have all advanced to the semifinals of the World Youth Championship at least once, making Group F the only group that consists of four countries that have previously advanced to the final four of the under-20 event.

"Fortunately, I've had the chance to play against all the teams in our group, so they will be familiar opponents," U.S. under-20 midfielder and captain Bobby Convey was quoted in the release. "It's going to be challenging to advance to the second round, but we've got a good team and we have confidence in ourselves."

The U.S. qualified for world championships with a second-place finish at November's under-20 qualifying tournament for CONCACAF, the region that includes North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The Americans shut out Haiti 2-0 and El Salvador 1-0 to earn qualification before losing 3-2 to Canada in the round-robin event in Charleston, S.C.

The U.S. under-20s have posted a 21-9-10 in all games since Thomas Rongen became coach in December 2001, outscoring opponents 74-38.

The U.S. attack is headlined by Major League Soccer's Ed Johnson of the Dallas Burn, and D.C. United's Santino Quaranta and Convey, with the trio combining for three goals and three assists at the qualifying tournament. Defensively, the team is paced by center backs Chad Marshall and Ryan Cochrane, and goalkeeper Steve Cronin.

Like the U.S., Paraguay played in the last three world championships, finishing fourth in the 2001 tournament in Argentina. Paraguay advanced to the world championships with a third-place finish in South America, closing CONMEBOL qualifying yesterday by defeating Ecuador 3-2.

The U.S. has only one victory against South American representatives in the U-20 world championships in seven tries, topping Chile 4-1 in Argentina '01.

Germany, the 1981 under-20 champion, qualified for this year's finals by finishing second in last year's under-19 European (UEFA) Championship. Germany went undefeated in the preliminary and group rounds to advance to the final, where it fell 1-0 to Spain.

The U.S. defeated East Germany 2-0 in 1989 and lost 2-1 to West Germany in 1987 in the U-20 championships, but never met a unified Germany. The U.S. is 3-7-1 in World Youth Championship play against squads from UEFA.

South Korea will appear in its eighth under-20 world tournament, finishing fourth in 1983. The Americans met host South Korea at the 1993 tournament and drew 2-2.

South Korea won the 2002 Asia U-20 championship in dramatic fashion, topping Japan 1-0 in overtime in the final, giving the Koreans their unprecedented 10th under-20 confederation title. South Korea was led by a defense that allowed only goal, scoring 13 times in six qualifying matches.

The U.S. squad will assemble in Florida for a training camp and matches with collegiate players reporting on February 13 and MLS players coming in a week later. The team will play in the VII Madeira (Portugal) International Tournament in early March.

In the 2001 world championship, the U.S. advanced from group play with a 1-1-1 record before losing 2-0 in the Round of 16 to Egypt, which eventually finished third.

Group A -- United Arab Emirates, Slovakia, Panama, Burkina Faso.
Group B -- Argentina, Spain, Uzbekistan, Mali.
Group C -- Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Australia.
Group D -- Colombia, Egypt, Japan, England.
Group E -- Saudi Arabia, Ireland, Mexico, Ivory Coast.
Group F -- Paraguay, United States, South Korea, Germany.