Tough draw for USA at Women's U-20 World Cup

• by Mike Woitalla  @MikeWoitalla, Mar 8, 2018

Japan, Paraguay and Spain will be the USA's first-round foes at the 2018 U-20 Women's World Cup in France (Aug. 5-24).

Japan beat the USA in the third-place game at the 2016 U-20 World Cup. Spain enters the tournament as European champion. Paraguay qualified as South American runner-up to Brazil.

The USA qualified as Concacaf runner-up to Mexico.

"It's great that we now can really focus in on our opposition," U.S. coach Jitka Klimkova said. "All three teams in our group present unique challenges and all 16 teams that qualified for the World Cup are quality. I'm excited about the opportunity to compete in a group that will test our players to find ways to win."

A 16-team tournament, the top two finishers from the four groups advance to the quarterfinals.

USA 2018 U-20 WORLD CUP, Group C games
Aug. 6
USA vs. Japan
Aug. 9
USA vs. Paraguay
Aug. 13
USA vs. Spain

2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Groups
Group A
France
Ghana
New Zealand
Netherlands

Group B
Korea DPR
England
Mexico
Brazil

Group C
USA
Japan
Paraguay
Spain

Group D
Haiti
China PR
Nigeria
Germany