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The FIFA U17 World Cup 2017 will be coincidentally the 17th edition of the tournament, but the very first FIFA tournament hosted by India. Although the tournament will feature 24 teams, only 16 will move on to the knockout stage. Out of the 24, three teams will make their debut in the tournament this year including host nation India. Let's have a look at five countries that may miss out on reaching the knockout stages:
New Caledonia
The small island nation will be featuring in the tournament for the first time. They have finished second thrice in the OFC U17 Championship. Although they reached the finals of OFC U17 Championship 2017 in style after defeating Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, New Caledonia were thrashed by the New Zealand team 7-0 in final.
This depicts that they are not totally ready for the tournament against the big guns. They will be missing their top scorer Paul Gope-Fenepej and thus the onus lies on the 16-year-old Caledonian top scorer Bernard Iwa to sail them through to the knockout rounds. The 21-member squad consists of players from 12 different domestic clubs and thus coordination among the team members might be an issue. They will hope they do not repeat the story of Tahiti in 2013 Confederations Cup.
North Korea
The two-time Asian U16 Champions will be featuring in the FIFA U17 World Cup for the fifth time this year. They reached the Quarter Finals in their very first stint at the tournament in 2005. But, they were defeated by the runners-up Brazil 3-1 on that occasion.
In their next U17 World Cup foray in 2007, they reached the Round of 16 but were beaten by the then runners-up Spain by a 3-0 margin. They were knocked out in the group stages in 2011 and in the Round of 16 in 2015 by Mali. Although they have a fairly strong squad with the likes of Kye Tam and Kim Pom-hyok both of whom are the products of Pyongyang International Football School, they face Brazil and Spain in the group stage. The two teams that evicted them in their first two editions of the tournament.
Honduras
This will be their fifth stint at the tournament as well. They were knocked out in the group stages three out of four times with their best finish coming up in the 2013 edition. The 2013 FIFA U17 World Cup was also held in Asia with the United Arab Emirates being the host. They were the runners-up in the 2015 CONCACAF U-17 Championships but they could not repeat the feat in 2017.
However, finishing second in their group in the classification stage was enough to sail them through to India in October 2017. Their fate lies with their star player Carlos Mejia who was the top scorer of CONCACAF U-17 Championships with seven goals. Three players out of the 21-man squad have international club level exposure and it will be crucial along with the Asian venue luck for Honduras.
Niger
It is the only African country on this list and one of the three countries making its debut in this edition of the U17 World Cup. The Niger U-17 team are also part of one of the toughest groups, one that includes Brazil and Spain. After not taking part in the first 10 editions of the African U-17 Championships, they took part in 2015 and 2017.
In the latter, they managed to cross the group stage and narrowly qualified for the big stage by finishing fourth. However, Niger lost both their knockout matches. This is a very raw side and a lot will depend on Ibrahim Marou and Rachid Soumana to help them cross the group stage. The latter is the only player in the squad with some international exposure as he plays as a defender for the Ghanian club, Tudu Mighty Jets.
India
Before defeating Mauritius in their previous game, the Indian U17 team had an on-off record in the past one year in terms of results. Thus, despite the impressive performances by the senior team the chances of the U17 team going through the group stage look very bleak. India only managed to qualify because of being the host and must capitalize on this opportunity as the players are the future of Indian football.
The team largely depends on two names Abhijit Sarkar and Komal Thatal, the latter of whom struck the headlines when he scored against Brazil in the BRICS U17 Championship. The goal turned out to be the only one scored by India in the tournament and perhaps that explains how tough it will be for the Colts to walk past the group stage.
