Guwahati : Having begun their FIFA U-17 World Cup campaigns with goal-laden wins, France and Japan start on even keel in a group E encounter, here today.
Former champions France thrashed debutants New Caledonia 7-1 with star striker Amine Gouiri scoring twice while Japan drubbed Honduras 6-1 with Keito Nakamura netting the tournament’s first hat-trick. Both sides will be high on confidence with an aim to come out all guns blazing. It will be difficult to predict the result of the match but whoever wins will have a smooth passage to the round of 16 with a match left to be played in the group. Bothe France and Japan were the favourites to make it to the knock-out rounds from the group and the loser in today’s match will still be in contention. There is not much of a gap between France and Japan. The ‘Les Bleus’ juniors have come here in India not as automatic four qualifiers in the European Championships but after a play-off between two best losing quarter-finalists. They had beaten Hungary 1-0 in the fifth place play-off match. France cannot be described as FIFA U-17 World Cup favourites though they won the title in 2001 in Trinidad and Tobago. They have featured in five of the 16 editions of the tournament before this one and have never gone beyond the quarter-finals. In 2015 in Chile, they were knocked out by Costa Rica on penalties in the Round of 16. France simply toyed with New Caledonia in their first match, almost scoring at will in the first session though they relaxed a bit in the second half. With Gouiri in fine form the Japanese defenders will be a busy lot tomorrow and will be tested to the limit for the first time in the tournament. Similarly, the French defenders will have a measure of their strength when they faced the likes of Nakamura and ‘Japanese Messi’ Takefusa Kubo who scored once against Honduras. Japan, on the other hand, are one of the technically best sides in Asia and will be a handful for France. They have the speed, technique and more experience than France at this stage. They are featuring in their eighth FIFA U-17 World Cup, having reached the quarter-finals on two occasions.
The Teams (From): France: Brahia Bernard, Yahia Fofana, Illan Meslier, Melvin Bard, William Bianda, Vincent Collet, Maxime Lacroix, Batista Mendy, Andy Pelmard, Oumar Solet, Yacine Adli, Maxence Caqueret, Claudio Gomes, Alan Kerouedan, Mathias Picouleau, Lenny Pintor, Aurelien Tchouameni, Alexis Flips, Willem Geubbels, Amine Gouiri, Wilson Isidor. Japan: Umeda Togo, Tani Kosei, Suzuki Zion, Iketaka Nobuki, Kemmotsu Takumu, Sugawara Yukinari, Kobayashi Yuki, Yamasaki Taichi, Baba Seiya, Okuno Kohei, Hirakawa Rei, Suzuki Toichi, Tsubaki Naoki, Fukouka Shimpei, Kida Hinata, Kozuki Soichiro, Yamada Hiroto, Miyashiro Taisei, Nakamura Keito, Kubo Takefusa, Saito Koki.
Match starts at: 17:00
Iraq eye first win; Chile look to avoid elimination
Kolkata : After holding two-time champions Mexico to a 1-1 draw, a buoyant Iraq will look to post a win when they take on a demoralised Chile in their second Group F match of the FIFA U-17 World Cup here.
Iraq secured their first ever point at the U-17 World Cup with a spirited draw against heavyweights Mexico and they would look to continue the momentum against Chile, who suffered a massive 0-4 defeat against England in their opening game. Full of pace and seemingly endless stamina, Mohammed Dawood spearheaded the Iraqi counter-attacking game plan to perfection, and found himself in front of the goal post on more than one occasion. Dawood gave the Asian champions a surprise lead in the 16th minute, before Mexico’s Roberto De La Rosa scored the equaliser in the 61st minute.
Dawood’s dominance can prove instrumental in deciding whether Iraq would progress from Group F to the Round of 16 in their second Under-17 World Cup appearance. However, Iraq’s coach Qahtan Jathir is in no mood to look too far ahead and said their focus is solely on Chileans at the moment. “Chile will not be easy. They have good players and are strong physically. They have good tactics as well. So, we will give our best against them,” he said.
Squads: Chile: Rodrigo Cancino, Hugo Araya; Gaston Zuniga, Matias Silva, Lucas Alarcon, Sebastian Valencia, Nicolas Aravena, Yerco Oyanedel; Maximiliano Guerrero, Mauricio Morales, Martin Lara, Oliver Rojas, Branco Provoste; Diego Valencia, Pedro Campos, William Gama, Ignacio Contreras, Ignacio Mesias, Jairo Vasquez, Antonio Diaz.
Iraq: Ali Ibadi, Mustafa Zuhair, Abdulazeez Ammar; Ali Raad, Muntadher Abdulsada, Abdulabbas Ayad, Ammar Mohammed, Maytham Jabbar, Muntadher Mohammed, Mohammed Al-Baqer; Habeeb Mohammed, Saif Khalid, Mohammed Ridha, Abbas Ali, Bassam Shakir, Mohammed Ali, Moamel Karim, Ahmed Sartip; Mohammed Dawood, Ali Kareem, Alaa Adnaan.
Match starts at: 20:00
Chance for New Caledonia, Honduras to earn points
Guwahati : Minnows New Caledonia and Honduras will have the best chance to register their maiden win in the FIFA U-17 World Cup when the two teams take on each other in a Group E match, here.
Both were hammered in their opening encounters – New Caledonia suffered an embarrassing 1-7 drubbing at the hands of France, while Honduras were thrashed 1-6 by Asian giants Japan at the Indira Gandhi International Stadium. They, however, remained optimistic about a much-improved showing in the next game. Honduras will still fancy their chances a bit more as they are the more experienced of the two sides. The central American nation has managed to regularly qualify for the tournament since 2007.
They bowed out of the first two editions but managed to reach the quarter-finals in 2013. In the qualification race, Honduras finished second behind a dominant Costa Rica in the central American zone qualifiers to reach the CONCACAF U-17 Championship. At the finals, they were defeated by hosts Panama, but recovered by beating Curacao and Haiti to reach the classification round. A hugely impressive 7-1 victory over Cuba confirmed their qualification in the tournament, despite a 0-3 defeat to USA. New Caledonia may have been hammered in the first match by their colonial masters, but they have already created history by just playing in the tournament. Not only did they manage to save a penalty, New Caledonia also scored their first World Cup goal, through defender Sidri Wadenges.
“It was a disappointing result but the result was expected, the level of the French team compared to the New Caledonian team is very high,” coach Dominique Wacalie had said. Wacalie said that from here on they will be working harder and try to plug the gaps in quality.
Match starts at: 20:00
