Football: NZ get favourable draw at U-20 World Cup

Host Stephen Mcivor (R) talks with former soccer players (L-R) Danny Hay, Steve Sumner, Wynton Rufer and Ivan Vicelich during the official draw for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Photo / Dean Purcell.

It wasn't quite a dream World Cup draw for the New Zealand Under-20 football side, but it was pretty close.

New Zealand were grouped with Ukraine, USA and Mynamar in a glitzy ceremony at Sky City's Convention centre last night, and the hosts will fancy their chances of progressing through the group stages when the tournament kicks off in May.

New Zealand were seeded into group play along with Mexico, Argentina, Qatar, Germany and the yet to be known African champions, and managed to avoid footballing heavyweights Argentina, Colombia and Brazil.

New Zealand coach Darren Bazeley was thrilled with the outcome of the draw and is now looking forward to studying his upcoming opposition.

"Is it possible to progress from this group? yes of course it's possible," said Bazeley. "Is it going to be hard, yes, but I believe we are good enough to make this happen."

"It would've been nice to play the big countries like Brazil and Argentina but I think realistically we want to do as well as we can in the tournament. And this draw is great.

Who's to say that the best player in the tournament isn't from Myanmar or the Ukraine anyway? You never know where the next big stars are coming from."

The tournament opener will pit New Zealand against Ukraine in Auckland on May 30, before 52 matches take place across seven cities over three weeks.

The tournament is expected to reach 170 million television viewers across 100 countries and Fifa are hoping for 500,000 fans to pass through the gates over the course of the tournament.

Group D looks to be the toughest with Concacaf champions Mexico, perennial South American powerhouses Uruguay, Serbia and the second ranked African side.

The African qualification tournament starts next month and the draw will be completed on March 22nd following the tournament.

Ukraine were one of six teams to qualify through Europe while Myanmar emerged as the surprise package of the Asian qualifiers and the USA are making their 13th appearance in the finals of the U-20 World Cup competition.

"At the moment I still don't think the country knows what's coming," said Bazeley. "But an event like tonight with the media that comes with it will increase everyone's understanding of the scale of the thing. It's going to be a massive event. Once we get past the Cricket World Cup I think it will capture the nation's imagination."

Local Organising Committee CEO David Beeche said he was most excited about some big teams heading to some of New Zealand's smaller regions.

"Look at Brazil going to New Plymouth for two games and then to Christchurch. That's an ideal scenario for us. That is one of the gems of the draw. Then you look at Hamilton who have Qatar, Colombia and Portugal and a CAF side. That's going to be outstanding football. But one of the key game days will be when New Zealand travel to Wellington to play their third game and the warm up match will feature Argentina. It doesn't get better than that."

Group A - Auckland
New Zealand
Ukraine
USA
Myanmar

Group B - Wellington
Argentina
Panama
CAF 3
Austria

Group C -Hamilton
Qatar
Colombia
Portugal
CAF 4

Group D - Dunedin
Mexico
CAF 2
Uruguay
Serbia

Group E - New Plymouth
CAF Champion
Brazil
Korea DPR
Hungary

Group F - Christchurch
Germany
Fiji
Uzbekistan
Honduras