Soccer continues on its way after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and in this year 2023 FIFA has two major competitions on its calendar: the 2023 Women’s World Cup to be played in Australia and New Zealand and the U-20 World Cup in Indonesia but this has suffered a problem that could affect the development of the tournament that is scheduled to begin on May 20 and end on June 11 with the grand final.
The situation regarding the U-20 tournament is that The host country has a very tough position on not accepting Israel’s participation in its lands for defending the Palestinian cause and for this reason its participation as the venue for the competition would be at serious risk. According to the Indonesian federation itself, the draw that was scheduled for last Friday was canceled because both the, for now, organizing country and Iraq did not want to share a group with the Israeli team and this caused the drums to be modified.
Since FIFA does not plan to get involved in political situations, it is a real possibility that Indonesia could lose the tournament host even though the federation president is looking for a solution. This could result in Indonesia not being considered as a host for any tournament until this situation is resolved.
??? Argentina ALREADY FORMALLY SUBMITTED its proposal to FIFA to win the 2023 U-20 World Cup venue, which still belongs to Indonesia.
❌ The draw has NOT yet been held in that country for political reasons and the tournament has a start date in May.
Remember that if AFA… pic.twitter.com/khLc4Ywlx2
— Soccer Attack (@AtaqueFutbolero) March 27, 2023
Based on this situation, the Argentine Football Association (AFA), led by Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia, formally approached the body chaired by Infantino to offer itself as the venue in case they decide to change it. This can also be seen as an opportunity to show yourself in the eyes of the world for the 2030 World Cup bid.
It is common knowledge that Argentina did not qualify for this tournament after having a very poor performance in the South American Cup in Colombia that was held in February of this year and if the venue changes, the albiceleste team could qualify as the host. The South American team already hosted a U-20 World Cup in 2001 when it became champion after defeating Ghana 3-0 in the final with a team that included players such as Andrés D’Alessandro, Javier Saviola and Maximiliano Rodríguez among others.
