It’s the World Cup, but it’s not next year’s version with the older ones. Maybe not a lot of people pay attention to this tournament, held every two years since 1977. Maybe people don’t watch because they think there are no high profile players, maybe because they don’t follow youth soccer. But in reality, the U-20 World Cup is the competition that showcases the future stars of the sport and the beginning of their careers, it started this weekend, and we should be watching.

As a crazy fan of my national team, I always expect them to win, and I religiously watch every competition they enter, even if it means waking up super early or maybe in the middle of the night to watch some crazy time zone, it really doesn’t matter: they are playing and I will be cheering them up from far.

The 21st edition of the U-20 World Cup is hosted by South Korea. There are 24 teams divided in 6 groups of 4. So far, 12 games have been played, scoring 32 goals and averaging attendance of 9,000 people per game.

Having some of the most powerful squads in the competition makes this World Cup exciting: teams like Argentina, Germany, France, England, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, South Korea, USA, and Zambia will all be competing to get the ultimate title of soccer, FIFA World Champion.

The Groups are:

Group A

Argentina

England

Guinea

Korea Republic (hosts)

Group B

Germany

Mexico

Vanuatu

Venezuela

Group C

Costa Rica

Iran

Portugal

Zambia

Group D

Japan

Italy

South Africa

Uruguay

Group E

France

Honduras

New Zealand

Vietnam

Group F

Ecuador

Saudi Arabia

Senegal

USA

The hosting team always has some sort of advantage being the local team, and South Korea will fight hard to win it all. We expect no less in front of their home fans, but we have to keep our eyes open for those underdogs that will give their best to make a name for themselves and will bring a lot of trouble to some of the big teams.

The current reigning champion is Serbia, winning the competition in 2015 in New Zealand, proving that small teams can upset some of the high profile teams in this sort of tournament. That also shows the way soccer is evolving, and lets you know who to watch in the big World Cup in the years to come.

I know that Matt wrote a recap of the USA opener this morning. You should read it. And I encourage you to take out your jersey, support your national team, and enjoy this beautiful competition that unites the world.