U-20 World Cup 2017: How to Watch, Stream, Schedule

Sporting Kansas City have at least one player playing in the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Erik Palmer-Brown, who has played exclusively for the Swope Park Rangers in 2017, will captain the United States Men’s National Team in South Korea. The reason I have to say at least is because Josh Sargent is also on that team. You may know Sargent as the star of the U-17 team that came up just short in penalty kicks against Mexico in the CONCACAF Championship and will likely captain that team at the U-17 World Cup.

The reason you should care about him if you are a Sporting KC fan is that the club has acquired the Homegrown player rights for Sargent. It still feels like a long shot that he’ll end up with Sporting, but you can hope. If he has a stellar U-20 and U-17 World Cup, Europe will definitely come calling. Heck, they’ll probably come calling regardless.

The tournament actually got underway in the very early hours of Saturday morning, but have no fear, the United States haven’t played yet. The US are among the stronger teams in the tourney and are the favorite in Group F to advance to the round of 16. They are paired with Ecuador, Saudi Arabia and Senegal.

Other strong clubs include England, France, Uruguay and Mexico. Many other countries are in the tournament as well including: Germany, Argentina, Korea Republic, Venezuela, Portugal and South Africa. The Korean Republic are the host nation as well which is why the games are played at weird times (for American audiences).

Here is the full schedule for the United States (so far):

• May 22, 2017 - 3:00 AM CT - USA v Ecuador - 3-3 Draw
• May 25, 2017 - 6:00 AM CT - USA v Senegal - 1-0 USA Win
• May 28, 2017 - 4:00 AM CT - USA v Saudi Arabia - 1-1 Draw
• Round of 16: June 1, 2017 - 6:00 AM CT - USA v New Zealand - 6-0 USA Win
• Quarterfinals: June 4, 2017 - 1:00 AM CT - USA v Venezuela
• Semifinals: June 8th vs Portugal/Uruguay winner (if US advance)
• World Cup Final: June 11th vs Italy/Zambia v Mexico/England winner

For the full schedule, head over to FIFA.com.

How to Watch on TV or Stream Online

There are lots of ways to watch the games. In the United States the games are all broadcast on Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2 or Fox Soccer Plus. In Spanish the games are on Telemundo and NBC Universo.

If you have cut the cord (and you if haven’t you definitely should look into it) and you need to know where to go there are lots of options. The two primary ones are fuboTV and Playstation Vue (I particularly like fuboTV for the ability to get Fox Sports KC — even if you live out of the area). Those packages include Spanish options as well as other languages as well. [If you are feeling particularly giving, fuboTV gives us a referral credit each time you sign up via this link.]

Both fuboTV and Playstation Vue have DVR functionality as well. That should come in handy since these games are played so early in the morning.

If all of this is too much for you I plan to have gifs of the big moments for the United States games as close to live as possible, but because of the weird hours I could definitely fall asleep in a puddle of drool on my computer. You can follow me on Twitter at @PlayFor90.

Tournament Format

24 teams qualified for the tournament and they’ve been divided into six different groups. The top two teams from each group along with the best four third place teams will move on to the round of 16. The rankings in each group will be determined by:

1. Points earned through all group matches.
2. Goal difference in group matches.
3. Number of goals score in group matches.

If there is a tie it gets really complicated. The United States would have to have a disastrous tourney to not get out of the group stage.

The round of 16 is a knockout format. There will be extra time (unlike the U-17 CONCACAF Championship) if clubs are tied at the end of regulation. It will be two 15-minute periods followed by a penalty kick shoot-out if the clubs are still level. Strangely in the third place game there is no extra time, just straight to PKs.

United States U-20 Roster

GOALKEEPERS (3): Jonathan Klinsmann (University of California; Newport Beach, Calif.), J.T. Marcinkowski (Georgetown; Alamo, Calif.), Brady Scott (De Anza Force; Petaluma, Calif.)

DEFENDERS (7): Danny Acosta (Real Salt Lake; Salt Lake City, Utah), Cameron Carter-Vickers (Tottenham Hotspur FC; Westcliff-on-Sea, England), Marlon Fossey (Fulham FC; Surbiton, England), Justen Glad (Real Salt Lake; Tucson, Ariz.), Aaron Herrera (University of New Mexico; Las Cruces, N.M.), Erik Palmer-Brown [CAPTAIN] (Sporting Kansas City; Lee's Summit, Mo.), Tommy Redding (Orlando City SC; Oviedo, Fla.)

MIDFIELDERS (5): Tyler Adams (New York Red Bulls; Wappingers Falls, N.Y.), Luca De La Torre (Fulham FC; San Diego, Calif.), Derrick Jones (Philadelphia Union; Philadelphia, Pa.), Eryk Williamson (University of Maryland; Alexandria, Va.), Gedion Zelalem (Arsenal FC; Bethesda, Md.)

FORWARDS (6): Jeremy Ebobisse (Portland Timbers; Bethesda, Md.), Lagos Kunga (Atlanta United FC Academy; Tucker, Ga.) Brooks Lennon (Real Salt Lake; Paradise Valley, Ariz.), Emmanuel Sabbi (Unattached; Columbus, Ohio), Josh Sargent (Scott Gallagher Missouri; O'Fallen, Mo.), Sebastian Saucedo (Real Salt Lake; Park City, Utah)