Oceania champions New Zealand now know the teams they will meet at the FIFA U-20 World Cup and coach Des Buckingham is under no illusions as to the quality of opposition his side will come up against in Poland during May.

The official draw was conducted this morning in Gdynia – one of six host cities for the tournament – and Buckingham was in attendance to learn his side would have the tricky task of taking on Honduras, Uruguay and Norway.

“It’s nice to know about the three teams we will face, we can now do what we can in terms of preparation and making sure we’re ready for that first game,” he says.

“But I think it’s important to understand there’s a lot of good teams who haven’t made it to this point like Spain, Germany and, of course, England, who are the current World Cup holders. That just goes to show the quality of the teams that have qualified is very high.”

Buckingham and assistant coach Hiroshi Miyazawa had already begun their wider analysis of the World Cup participants prior to the draw and that process will now step up a level with confirmation of the teams they will be directly competing against in Group C.

“We’ve literally just stepped out of the draw so there’s a lot of people running around here now trying to make plans,” Buckingham says.

“The good thing is that we’re about to go to a team dinner where we will engage quite heavily with people from the other confederations that have played against Honduras, Uruguay and Norway to see what we can find out on top of what we already know. We’ve already done some research but we’ve got enough time between now and when the tournament starts to make sure what we need to do is done well and we can prepare as well as we can.”

An important development in those preparations took place earlier this month when a four-day training camp brought 33 players together in Auckland under the watchful eyes of Buckingham and Miyazawa. None of those players were part of the 18-strong squad that qualified New Zealand for the World Cup by winning the OFC U-19 Championship in Tahiti last August, illustrating the depth of talent available for selection.

The coaching staff have left no stone unturned to make sure no players slip through the cracks with Buckingham spending few nights in his own bed in recent weeks.

“I’ve spent about 75 per cent of my time on the road this year,” he says.

“That’s been largely getting around to all the ISPS Handa Premiership clubs to spend time in those environments and of course getting across to Europe to see the players we have over there. And the day before the camp started I was over in the USA to engage with players and staff but, more importantly, to see the environment we’ve got players working in. It’s important to gain a greater understanding not just of the player but of the person as well because we’re going to be away together for a substantial period of time.”

Buckingham is pleased with the level of talent he has at his disposal and clearly has a welcome selection headache on the horizon. Over 50 players have now been looked at and the most impressive of those will be brought into another camp in Auckland at the start of April.

“As soon as the ISPS Handa Premiership is finished, we will bring the majority of the 18 players who qualified the country back in and will add to that group from the other players that have stood out and maybe one or two others,” Buckingham explains.

He is impressed with Poland’s preparations to host the biggest youth football tournament in the world – the event is watched by more than 13 million people – and is looking forward to leading his players through one of the most remarkable experiences of their young lives.

“I think it’s going to be the same as any other FIFA event I’ve been to – very well organised and structured,” Buckingham says.

“We find ourselves in two very nice cities and the stadiums and infrastructure seem to be fantastic. We’ve been looked after very well, I’ve been to Poland a few times before and it’s a very nice country. It will be very good for the players to come here and experience not just the football but the culture of Poland.”

The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup will take place in Poland from 23 May to 15 June.

For the official draw and more information please click here

Article added: Monday 25 February 2019