Brazil set the bar high, Iran & England promise plenty more
After 36 games, there have been 3.5 goals per match, something that hasn’t happened since 2005
IRAN, THE ASIAN RUNNERSUP, WON ALL THEIR LEAGUE GAMES ALONG WITH PARAGUAY, FRANCE, BRAZIL AND ENGLAND. THE ASIAN CHAMPIONS, IRAQ, TOO GOT THROUGH FROM A DIFFICULT GROUP
KOLKATA: On the first day India showed heart, on the last New Caledonia made history.
In between, there have been numerous examples of teenagers with enough promise to go the way of Borussia Dortmund’s Christian Pulisic who has made the transition to playing with men look a lot easier than it is. And as game days came and went, India showed that while the question of whether it cares for football is one for the future, it sure does love this under-17 World Cup.
That Brazil would comfortably make it out of the group stage wasn’t unexpected. But the way Iran and England qualified for the round of 16 was. Iran’s dismantling of Germany could be the equivalent of the USA trumping England in the men’s 1950 World Cup.
Lincoln has shown that such a weighty name sits lightly on his 17-year-old shoulders after Brazil kicked off their campaign with a self-goal just like they did in the last men’s World Cup. And in Paulinho, he has an able partner to share attacking responsibilities just as in Gabriel Brazao they have a solid shot-stopper.
But from the time Allahyar Sayyad turned and rifled a rightfooter into the top corner contributing to a Guinea meltdown to how they punctured German pride with Younes Delfi’s brace would be mentioned every time there is a conversation about this World Cup. “My players got scared and showed too much respect to the opponents,” said Germany coach Christian Wuck.
Iran, the Asian runners-up, won all their group league games along with Paraguay, France, Brazil and England. The Asian champions, Iraq, too qualified from a difficult group; a 0-4 drubbing by England taking the sheen off a combative draw against Mexico and their clinical dismantling of Chile. “Who would have thought we would qualify,” said Iraq coach Qahtan Chitheer.
Neither France nor Paraguay could keep a clean sheet on way to topping their groups. England did that for two games, once without eight regulars. Their players made connections in the front third that could be the pride of several senior teams. And England coach Steve Cooper has given 20 of his 21 players game time. When Branimir Ujevic, head of the Technical Study Group, mentioned some dazzling wing play he could well have had England in mind.
Several teams have struggled in heat and humidity but not them. They have been so fluent that Kolkata will hope they don’t have a bad day in the knockouts.
Jadon Sancho, Philip Foden, Callum Hudson-odoi, Joel Latibeaudiere should be names that will serve football well along with Mohammed Dawood, Diego Lainez and Amine Gouiri who takes the Fifa’s slogan ‘go for goals’ very seriously. Along with Japan’s Keito Nakamura, they have helped 36 games average 3.5 goals, something that hasn’t happened since 2005.
For the India team, this competition would have been an eyeopener as to how difficult the game is even at the under-17 level. But except for the second half against Ghana when they didn’t have the legs, India showed a lot of pluck. And with a bit of luck could have got their first point after Jeakson Singh made history. New Caledonia did that, against a second-string Japan, and somersaulted their way home. After a tough opening match, Spain are in the knockout stage and their first game is against another European giant with a rich footballing history — France — in a couple of days. France have made it to the pre-quarters as Group E topper after three comprehensive wins over Japan, Honduras and New Caledonia, so naturally their confidence level will also be pretty high.
But, Spain can take heart from their performance in the group stage and, despite going down to Brazil in the opening encounter, they did well to come back strongly and defeat Niger 4-0 and North Korea 2-0 and make it to the knockout stage.
It is always tough to play Brazil first up in a tournament. While yes, winning it would have set the tone for Spain, honestly the scoreline didn’t justify the work put in by the Spanish team.
In the second half, the team played attacking football.
But, Spain should grant it to Brazil for putting up a robust defence. In Spain’s next match, they showed what they are capable of against Niger. I feel the team will only get better in the knockout stages.
Back in the 2003 U-17 World Cup in Finland, I was part of the Spain team that lost to Brazil in
SPAIN HAVE QUALIFIED FOR THE UNDER17 WC AFTER EIGHT YEARS, SO SURELY THE TEAM IS RARING TO GO.