Football: Cup coaches inspect stadium

(from left) Mexican coach Juan Carlos Ortega,  Uruguayan coach Fabian Coito, Dunedin mayor Dave...
(from left) Mexican coach Juan Carlos Ortega, Uruguayan coach Fabian Coito, Dunedin mayor Dave Cull and Serbian coach Veljko Paunovic at Forsyth Barr Stadium yesterday. Photo by Peter McIntosh.
Representatives of some of the Fifa Under-20 World Cup teams to play in Dunedin got their first taste of the city yesterday.

Mexican coach Juan Carlos Ortega, Uruguayan coach Fabian Coito and Serbian coach Veljko Paunovic were among the delegates in town for the day.

They were given a tour of Forsyth Barr Stadium, which will be renamed Otago Stadium for the tournament, in the morning, and gave positive feedback.

Mexico, Uruguay, Serbia and an African qualifier were drawn in group D for the tournament, and will play the majority of their games in the city.

Serbia and Mexico play all three of their group games in Dunedin, while Uruguay will play two of its three games under the roof.

Group C's Portugal v Colombia match will also be played in the city, as well as a round of 16 match.

Serbian coach Paunovic (37), who earned 87 caps for Spanish giant Atletico Madrid as a player, said his first impression of Dunedin was that it was a ''lovely place''.

The former midfielder, who also played for Hannover in the German Bundesliga, retired from the game after a lone season with the Philadelphia Union in the MLS in 2011.

He has coached the Serbian under-20 team the past three years and has no doubt group D is the ''pool of death'' at the tournament.

''I think it's the toughest,'' he said.

''It's going to be very hard for all the teams, but I believe we will fight and we will try to get our goal, which is to go through the first phase.''

However, the Serbian national league will still be running when the tournament kicks off on May 30 and could disrupt the squad.

Team officials are working with the national league teams to arrange the availability of players, and Paunovic hopes he will have a full-strength squad to pick from.

Speaking through a translator, Mexican coach Juan Carlos Ortega also had good things to say about Dunedin, and particularly liked the look of the stadium.

Despite drawing such a tough group, Ortega was ''very sure'' his players were up for the challenges in front them.

''We had great preparation in Mexico, but this is an international tournament and we are playing the best in the world,'' he said.

''So this is our moment to build for Mexico.''

As well as touring the stadium, the group met Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull yesterday.

Dates have not yet been finalised, but the group D teams will probably arrive in Dunedin about 10 days before the start of the tournament.

The 24-team World Cup runs from May 30 to June 20.

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