South Korea’s U-17 national soccer team, led by Byun Sung-hwan (44), faces a formidable opponent.

South Korea was drawn into Group E alongside France, Burkina Faso and the United States at the 19th FIFA U-17 World Cup Indonesia on Friday in Zurich, Switzerland.

The U-17 World Cup will be held in Indonesia from Nov. 10 to Dec. 2. South Korea will face the United States on Nov. 12, France on Nov. 15, and Burkina Faso on Nov. 18 in the round of 16.

The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in 2021. However, it was canceled due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and pushed to this year. It will be four years since the 2019 tournament in Brazil. The top two teams from each group and the best four finishers from the third group will advance to the round of 16, where a tournament will be held to determine the winner.

Byun Sung-hwan booked his ticket to the tournament by finishing runner-up at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-17 Asian Cup in Thailand in July.

South Korea, who are making their seventh appearance at the tournament, have reached the round of 16 on all but two occasions (2003 and 2007), with an eighth-place finish being their best result. Their first appearance at the tournament was in 1987 in Canada (U-16). Led by Kim Sam-Rak, South Korea reached the quarterfinals with Noh Jeong-Yoon, Seo Jung-Won, Shin Tae-Yong, and Kim Byung-Soo.

South Korea were knocked out in the group stages in 2003 in Finland and 2007 in Anbang, South Korea, but in 2009 in Nigeria, Lee Kwang-jong led a squad that included Son Heung-min, Kim Jin-soo, Lee Jong-ho and Yoon Il-rok to the quarterfinals. 메이저사이트

After settling for the round of 16 in Chile in 2015, South Korea reached the quarterfinals again in Brazil in 2019 under Kim Jung-soo. Uhm Ji Sung, Jung Sang Bin, Lee Tae-seok, and Lee Han-beom were among the players who played at the tournament.

France was drawn in the same group as Korea in 2019. France has qualified for the knockout stages of the tournament four times in a row and finished third in the last edition. They defeated South Korea 3-1 in the group stage.

This is Burkina Faso’s fifth appearance at the tournament, following previous appearances in New Zealand in 1999, Trinidad and Tobago in 2001, Nigeria in 2009 and Mexico in 2011. In 2001, they reached the quarterfinals. They lost to Nigeria and fell in the third-place playoff before losing again to Argentina. This is their first meeting with South Korea.

The United States has qualified for all but one of its 19 tournaments (United Arab Emirates). Their best result was a fourth-place finish at the 1999 tournament. They met South Korea in the group stage in 1987, losing 4-2, and thrashed them 6-1 in 2003.