World Cup-20: Why did Puerto Rico not play in the group stage of the championship?

San Pedro Sula, Honduras.- The Mexican National Team perfects several errors that yesterday (Thursday) caused it not to score at least one goal against the Haitian National Team at the Metropolitan Olympic Stadium, the same venue where it will face Puerto Rico in the round Under-20 World Cup final.

Luis Pérez’s team took first place in Group B after accumulating seven figures by beating Suriname (8-0) and Trinidad and Tobago (5-0) at the Morazán Stadium, while the other point was due to the goalless result against the aforementioned Haiti.

Getting the first place allows him to face the Puerto Rican squad in the Round of 16, however many of the fans do not know why Puerto Rico settled in the 2nd stage of the U-20 tournament without having played the group stage, here is the answer.

Previously, the Puerto Rico National Team participated in the preliminaries that featured 19 Concacaf teams with the lowest ranking, based on the Confederation’s U-20 Men’s National Team Ranking (published on July 1, 2019).

Puerto Rico, as well as the Dominican Republic, Bermuda, Curaçao, Nicaragua, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Guyana, Dominica, Cayman Islands, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Barbados, Saint-Martin, US Virgin Islands, Sint Maarlen, Anguilla and British Virgin Islands were drawn into four groups with each leader earning a ticket to the Under-20 World Cup.

The Puerto Ricans, along with Curaçao, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua were confirmed as group leaders and the four from the qualifier to complete the 16 countries that will face each other in the final phase to qualify for the 2023 Indonesia World Cup; the finalists will secure a ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

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The match, Mexico vs. Puerto Rico, will take place next Sunday, June 26 at 9:30 p.m. (Mexico time) 8:30 p.m. (Culiacán time). El Tri needs to beat its rivals to dream of going to the World Cup and JJ.OO.