The U.S. U-17s, one of the seeded teams in Thursday's draw in Seoul, open against Tajikistan on Aug. 20 in Changwon, then face Tunisia three days later and conclude group play on Aug. 26 against Belgium in Cheonan.
Tajikistan will be competing in its first-ever World Cup at any level, as one of four teams to qualify from Asia. The Tajiks, who have a full-time residency program, beat Iraq (1-0), Iran (2-1) and Yemen (4-3) to advance into the quarterfinals, where it beat South Korea, 1-0, to book a trip to the World Cup.
Belgium, which lost to eventual champion Spain on penalty kicks in the semifinals of the recent European U-17 championships, qualified for the U-17 World Cup for the first time. Tunisia is the lone U.S. opponent with experience at the U-17 finals, having competed in 1993.
"On paper, it's a very favorable draw for us, however, in my experience at the Under-17 World Cup you never know really what's going to happen because at this age level things are definitely a little unpredictable," said U.S. U-17 coach John Hackworth. "We know very little about Tajikistan and Tunisia, so that is going to be a huge challenge for us. We do know a little about Belgium, but we have some work to do to get prepared for all of our teams in Group E. It will be very interesting come this August when we kick off the World Cup."
(Click here to listen to Hackworth's analysis of the Under-17 World Cup draw.)
The draw pitted South American powerhouses Argentina and Brazil against Spain and England, the No. 1 and No. 2 European teams, respectively. Spain will enter with the tournament's most heralded player, Barcelona starlet Bojan Krkic.
UNDER-17 WORLD CUP DRAW:
Group A
A1. South Korea
A2. Peru
A3. Costa Rica
A4. Togo
Group B
B1. North Korea
B2. England
B3. Brazil
B4. New Zealand
Group C
C1. Honduras
C2. Spain
C3. Argentina
C4. Syria
Group D
D1. Nigeria
D2. France
D3. Japan
D4. Haiti
Group E
E1. Belgium
E2. Tunisia
E3. Tajikistan
E4. USA
Group F
F1. Colombia
F2. Germany
F3. Trinidad & Tobago
F4. Ghana
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