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FIFA U-17 is about to commence in three days kicking off at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi. 24 teams are in the main draw fighting for the coveted WC trophy. Here we take a look how those teams got here.
GROUP A
India | USA | Colombia | Ghana
This is the first time that India is playing in any FIFA tournament. They get to do so by being the hosts, which is also a first for this country for any FIFA event.
USA are here by the dint of being runners-up at the CONCACAF U-17 Championship having lost in the penalty shootout in the final to Mexico. On route, in the group stages, they did beat the same ‘El Tri’ 4-3 that they eventually lost to in the finals, marking their first triumph in 25 years against them in the continental championships.
While Colombia made it by acquiring the third place in 2017 South American U-17 Championship, temperamental side Ghana are here as the runners-up in the CAF Africa U-17 Cup of Nations.
Group B
Paraguay | Mali | New Zealand | Turkey
Paraguay are this year’s third-place finishers at the South American U-17 Championship behind Brazil and Colombia. In the final round, they matched Brazil’s two goals with two of their own, the same with Ecuador as well, defeated Chile and Venezuela and qualified with one match to spare.
Mali paved their road to India when they reprised their CAF U-17 Africa Cup of Nations win, the first such repeat in the tournament’s history.
This U-17 World Cup will mark New Zealand’s sixth successive win in OFC U-17 Championships, hence their sixth consecutive appearance in the main draw. In the final match against the New Caledonians, they netted half a dozen and one goals.
On the other hand, Turkey surprised the world and themselves by re-entering the mains after a six-year hiatus. In the UEFA European U-17 Championship 2017 in Croatia, they made it to the semi-finals.
Group C
Iran | Guinea | Germany | Costa Rica
Iran had topped the table in their group-stage at the AFC U-16 Championship but lost out to Iraq to penalties in the finals.
Guinea dug their toes into the ground to reach the semis of 2017 CAF U-17 Africa Cup of Nations and thus their ticket to this showpiece event in the Indian sub-continent.
Germany were more assertive in their route to qualifying for the showpiece. In the process, they set a new scoring record netting 36 while equalling the least goal-conceded numbers, that of six, with England. They made it as top four teams in the championships, losing to eventual champions Spain in the semis.
Costa Rica blazed through their qualifying and group-stage routine with a hundred-percent win record till they bumped hard against the Mexican wall in the classification round. The ‘Los Ticos’ did manage to come second with a win over Panama.
Group D
Korea DPR | Niger | Brazil | Spain
Korea qualified simply by dragging their heavy feet through the harrowing mud and reaching their primary objective of somehow being in the top four in the Asian qualifiers.
Niger are another surprise package in this U-17 football fest partly perhaps due to the complacency of the Nigerians who were handed a shock aggregate defeat. Thereafter, the ‘Junior Menas’ capitalized on that opportunity to reach the last four in the continental rounds.
How lopsided will it be when both these fourth-place finishers encounter the first boys in their respective territories? The news is not that Brazil won the championship undefeated, it is that they had two stalemates Though they will not benefit from the services of Vinicius their highest scorer in the championships, one will discount them at their own risk.
Then there is Spain – they won the European U-17 crown alright but it was not all smooth sailing. England gave them a good run for their money and stretched them till the shoot-outs (1-4) after drawing the first blood.
Group E
Honduras | Japan | New Caledonia | France
Honduras ended up being the runners-up both at the Central American zone qualifiers and CONCACAF U-17 Championship, the former behind Costa Rica and the later to the USA.
Japan made amends for their 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup absence with a sparkling show at the 2016 AFC U-16. They aced their group and despite a tough win over UAE by 1-0, they swam through to finals where they were felled by a new-found form team Iraq.
One of the three first-time qualifiers at any FIFA event with India and Niger, New Caledonia had to rev up their game to reach where they are now. Having given their all they collapsed to New Zealand 1-7 in the ultimate match of that region.
Though France will be in action in the main fray it was by the skin of their teeth. A heavy defeat in the quarters against Spain (1-3) at this year’s UEFA U-17 European Championship could have jeopardised their entry, but the ‘Les Bleuets’ made most of a subsequent second life constituting a play-off between two best losing quarter-finalists by defeating Hungary (1-0) and stole a place in the draws.
Group F
Iraq | Mexico | England | Chile
Iraq started on decently strong note securing the second spot in the group-stages and rose in strength to get the better of the Uzbeks and Japan in the pre-penultimate and penultimate rounds respectively. Having secured the desired berth, they held their shape to see off Iran in the penalties after a goalless stalemate to clinch the top honours for the very first time in the 2016 AFC U-16 Championships.
Mexicans are the perennial favourites especially in this age-group competition and they extracted a sweet revenge on their way to lift 2017 CONCACAF U-17 Cup as well. They gobbled up most of their opponents like a Pac-Man and met their group-stage conquerors, USA who had won by 4-3. A similar result seemed to be the outcome when the ‘El Tri’ ironed-out the one-goal deficit in stoppage-time. They came out on top in a nail-biting shoot-out to scalp their seventh CONCACAF U-17 title.
England went into 2017 UEFA U-17 European Championship final with an all-win credential in both the qualifying and elite round and put their name first on the score sheet. But after Spain equalized, it went downhill for ‘The Young Lions’, as they lost 1-4 in the shoot-outs.
Chile excelled through the group stages before submitting to a defeat to Paraguay in the final six-team round. The ‘La Rojitas’ again picked up steam and was set to lift the crown, that too as the host team. But sadly their defence came unhinged when it most mattered and let in one less than a dozen goals.
