Just to start the thread. Four African teams attend the event: Cote d'Ivoire (African champions), Nigeria (runner-ups), Tunisia (3rd) and Morocco (4th). Cote d'Ivoire get a tough draw with Uruguay and Italy to contend with. Nonetheless Cote d'Ivoire should progress easily as New Zealand is the fourth team and the 4 best 3rd placed teams qualify for the 1/8 final. Cote d'Ivoire is physically imposing and they don't seem to score many goals (scored just 5 goals as compared to 18 by Nigeria in the African U17 Championship), but they absolutely dominate their opposition by being big, strong and bullying their petty foes, fast and furious their end product was terrible. Defensively astute they do seem to lack a cutting edge up front. Cote d'Ivoire's man attacking strength comes from midfield dominance and fast pacy wingers Kouassi Begbin and Junior Ahissan (with equally quick full backs to compliment them). Top scorer for the team was Dogbole Niangbo with 2 goals, who started off the tournament as a substitute player, but went on to score two great volleys. Their key targetman is the very tall and lanky Chris Bedia, whose only strong attribute seems to be that he towers over all opponents. Thankfully for Cote d'Ivoire MRI testing has left the team unscathed. Nigeria get to play Sweden and Iraq (the weakest AFC team), but do have to contend with Mexico for top spot. Nonetheless no surprise they are happy with the draw. Nigeria will likely feature the future of Nigerian midfield Chelsea starlet Habeeb Makanjoula, who has enormous hype behind him and only showed up the U17 team thanks to the MRI downsizing. Thankfully for Nigeria the absolute shredding of Nigeria's squad by MRI testing spared the fearsome threesome of attackers Isaac Success (top scorer at African U17 Championships), Kelechi Iheanacho (runner up) and Chidera Ezeh plus they fact that they have been walloping all of their sparing opponents during preparation mean they will remain among favourites to lift the trophy. The concerted effort to find replacements for players dropped from the squad seems to have been a stunning success so far, as the coach really looked far and wide to pick up unpolished gems. I predict Nigeria walloping most opponents, but they may hit a brick wall like they did with Cote d'Ivoire. Tunisia gets the toughest group on paper with Venezuela, Russia and Japan. Although they got decisively beat by Nigeria in the semifinal, they actually pretty looked good throughout (although their opposition of Botswana and Gabon don't exactly seem tough). Nonetheless they often struggled to control games and for instance against Gabon they were pegged back for most of the first half. Not exactly confident performances by Tunisia and don't look like championship material, they may even fail to leave the group. Notably 8 of their 10 goals were scored by two players: Hazeem Haj Hassem and Firas Ben Larbi, both with 4 goals. Striker Haj Hassem is an old-school goal poacher with excellent finishing skills and some pace to burn, while Ben Larbi is the creative heart of the team with some great passing and a good game rhythm. Morocco get the best draw having to contend with Croatia, Panama and Uzbekistan. By means means an inferior team to Tunisia, albeit they did get to play at home during the qualifiers. They drew both games against Tunisia (3rd place playoff and the group match) and waltzed through their group with decisie dominant wins against Gabon and Botswana, but were decidly second best against Cote d'Ivoire. They should progress from the group, but who knows whether they can make it any further? Morocco boast a relatively astute defence, but their offensive line of Younes Bnou Marzouk (Juventus), Hamza Sakhi (Chateroux) and Captain Nabil Jaadi (Anderlecht) made the best impression (however midfield often failed to supply the frontline). Nabil Jaadi is already good enough to be flirting with starting for the Moroccan national team, quick right winger with superb ball control, great dribbling and great positional awareness (likened to Andreas Iniesta); already called a wonderkid he will be make or break for Morocco. The goalscorers for Morocco are however Marzouk (4 goals at the AU17C) and Sakhi (3 goals at the AU17C). Marzouk is banging in goals for his youth teams, very physical and imposing will outmuscle the average 17 year old and will probably get a few goals, especially in this group. As with Jaadi the current coach already sees a place for the striker in the national squad. The last piece is Sakhi, an offensive midfielder playing right being Marzouk, who can be a bit too egoistical and fail to pass the ball at times, but nonetheless has great penetration. All in all I think 3 African teams will go far in the tournament, while Tunisia probably will look the weakest. Group B Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Uruguay 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 New Zealand 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ivory Coast 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Italy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Group C Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Croatia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Morocco 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Panama 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Uzbekistan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Group D Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Tunisia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Venezuela 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Russia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Japan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Group F Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Mexico 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Nigeria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Iraq 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sweden 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cote d'Ivoire also with the Chelsea Ivoirian duo of Victorien Angban et Ambrose Gnahore. Whens the cut off date for this U-17 World Cup.. only those born after 1. Jan 1997?? or 1996?
ah ok.. then Ivory Coast still trying to sway the decision of 17 yr old Gnaly Maxwel Cornet. The young French-Ivoirian phenom who plays for Metz in Ligue 2.
Naija selection pass the MRI test with flying colours and the squad of 25 go for final preps and a cut down to 21.
The final 21 for Nigeria: SURVIVORS FROM THE AFRICAN U17 CHAMPIONSHIP: Defenders: Chidiebere Nwakali, Bello Zaraddeen, Mohammed Musa, Alfa Abdullahi Midfielders: Taiwo Awoniyi, Musa Yahaya, Baba Salihu, Idowu Akinjide Forwards: Chidera Ezeh, Isaac Success, Kelechi Iheanacho NEW ADDITIONS: Sunday Alampasu, Japhet Raymond, Chigozie Obasi, Abubakar Abdulazeez , Godwin Saviour, Habib Makanjuola, Okon Denis, Uzoha Odinaka, Godwin Samuel, Abubakar Aliu That means the entire core of the Nigerian squad that demolished opponents at the qualifying tournament is unscathed (strikers Chidera Ezeh, Isaac Success, Kelechi Iheanacho, midfield stalwart Idowu Akinjide and captain Mohammed Musa together with the entire backline), so Nigeria remains strong favorites to win the event. Plus we have a new addition in the 'new Okocha' midfielder Habib Makanjuola, already with star credentials for Chelsea. If Makanjuola is as good as they say he is, than Nigeria can be even more devastating than in qualifying. Obvious favorites to win the event alongside Brasil and Argentina.
iirc Nigeria lost the final to Ivory Coast and lost to them in Group Stage 1-0. I got Cote d'Ivoire as I always do in every competition. Allez Les Elephanes.
Good choice as well. Just haven't been as strong offensively as Nigeria, but they look like a very tough team to break down.
Yea, hopefully the additions of some of the European based players can help. No more Soulemayne Coulibalys.
MOROCCO SQUAD (notice the amount of Belgian based players): GK: Oussayd Belkouch (Club Brugge), Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti, Achraf Sidki (both Academie Mohammed VI, Morocco) DF: Younes Boudadi (Club Brugge), Fahd Moufi (Olympique Lyon), Mohamed El Bouazzati (Borussia Dortmund), Yassine Jbira (Academie Mohammed VI), Achraf Achaoui (Standard Liège) MF: Omar Arjoune (Raja Casablanca), Bilal Jellal (Anderlecht), Sofyan Amrabat (FC Utrecht), Walid Sebar (Raja Casablanca), Yassine Khadraoui (Bayer Leverkusen), Taoufiq Naciri (PSV), FW: Karim Essikal (Club Brugge), Nabil Jaadi (Anderlecht), Karim Achahbar (EA Guingamp), Ilyas El Houssni (Arles FC), Hamza Sakhi (Châteauroux), Younes Bnou Marzouk (Juventus), Zouheir El Moutaraji (Wydad Casablanca) 6 players from Belgium, 4 from France, 2 from Holland and Germany, 1 from Italy... and just 6 U17 players from Morocco (including 2 backup keepers).
Looks like their same squad from the U-17 Championships in Africa. Trying to tie down the abroad kids quick.
8 changes to the Moroccan squad that competed in the CAF U-17 Championship. Zakaria El Azzouzi (Ajax), Anas Serroukh (FC Barcelona), Anwar Bourmila (Inter), Mohssine Samiki (Academie Mohammed VI), Lotfi Hachimi (Amposta), Faycal Annouri (Vitesse), Youssef Ait Bennaser (Nancy) and Mohamed Saoud (MAT Tetouan) are out. They're replaced by Achraf Sidki (Academie Mohammed VI), Sofyan Amrabat (FC Utrecht), Walid Sebar (Raja Casablanca), Yassine Khadraoui (Bayer Leverkusen), Taoufiq Naciri (PSV), Karim Achahbar (EA Guingamp), Ilyas El Houssni (Arles-Avignon) and Zouheir El Moutaraji (Wydad Casablanca). All in all, a slightly better squad.
Can't say the Moroccan players say much to me. I do rate them over Tunisia however and they have an easy looking group.
Some friendly results from Marbella where 7 teams at the U17 World Cup are camped out: Argentina - Tunisia 2:2 (goals by Hazem Haj and Maher Gabsi) Argentina - Uzbekistan 3:0 Mexico - Cote d'Ivoire 3:2 (both goals Chris Bedia) UAE - Panama 3:0 Mexico - Uzbekistan 2:0 UAE - Mexico 1:1 Cote d'Ivoire - Uzbekistan 0:0 UAE - Cote d'Ivoire 1:1 (goal by Chris Bedia) Morocco and Nigeria are camping in Dubai. Apparently the Nigerian players have been thrashing various youth outfits to a pulp with scores like 11:0 or 17:0.
Well.. its UAE.. Dubai isn't known for their youth soccer programs, so I wouldn't put much stock behind those Nigeria scorelines. Also I'm excited about Chris Bedia.. the Tours FC underling seems to be a real goal scoring threat. btw How did they justify dropping those kids for the new kids?? Did they do a training camp with all of them or something?
Those were also scorelines against Nigerian youth development outfits like Espanyol Football Academy (11:0). Also take note that apart from Cote d'Ivoire this Nigerian squad mauled all their opponents at the African championship. One more thing: This cup will be played in UAE with temperatures averaging above 30 degrees. Can't help but feel that African teams will dominate physically and staminawise. European teams will suffer greatly!
Some more friendly results from U17 teams: Sweden U17 - Iceland U19 2:3 Slovakia U17 - Norway U17 1:1 Sweden U17 - Slovakia U17 2:3 Sweden U17 - Norway U17 1:3 Italy U17 - Holland U17 4:1 Uruguay U17 - Peru U17 1:1 Germany U17 - Italy U17 2:3 Slovakia U17 - Ireland U17 1:0 Israel U17 - Italy U17 2:3 Slovakia U17 - Ireland U17 3:0 England U17 - Italy U17 1:2 BTW The European representation for U17 World Cup looks pretty weak save for Italy.
Espanyol Football Academy get the left-over talent in their own region.. thanks to Barcelona. Nigeria vs Cote d'Ivoire final maybe?? That would be pretty amazing for Africa. European teams never fare well in these sort of conditions.. have to say teams from Central and South America and Africa are the favorites to win this. Mexico and Brazil probably the two favorites.. two previous winners with a bevy of talent.
Good question, as far as i know, there were two training camps back in June and August with the European-based players while the Moroccan-based players had a couple more. I guess most of the players got chosen after those camps. But a couple of them didn´t really impress during the African Championship, especially considering the academies they come from, and probably got dropped as a consequence.I would say Tunisia and Morocco are pretty equal, especially considering that the Moroccan team really lacks cohesion. Aside from those 5 matches in the African Championship, they only have one match against Canada on the 12th of October before they enter the World Cup.
I watched the CAF U17 Championship and in my opinion, based on that tournament, Cote d'Ivoire is the best team from Africa. Nigeria has some defensive issues and Tunisia really had them going for a minute in the semi-final. Bad finishing by the Tunisians and good physical and indiviual skills by the attacking players of Nigeria got them to the final. But thats like 6 months ago, alot may have changed in that time
Surprised by your assessment. I watched that game and in my opinion Nigeria swiftly built up a 3:0 lead after total domination in the opening 25 minutes, after which they lost concentration and let Tunisia back into the game in the first half after which they took back control in the second. Tunisia basically played 20 minutes of great football, but apart from that it was all Nigeria.
The first 20-25 minutes were definitely in the hands of the Nigerians but after 3-0 they started to slow down. Tunisia came back with 2 goals and suddenly the Nigerians seemed troubled, especially their defense started to do all sort of weird things. I may have exagarrated a little but i seem to remember that Tunisia had the Nigerians struggling until they got their 4th goal in the second half. Even after this, it was mostly Tunisia attacking and Nigeria laying back. At least, thats what i seem to remember But my point is that if they play with the same kind of defense in the World Cup, then they'll have a big weakness against certain teams who play more free-flowing football.
More or less true. Although Nigeria did have the most of the good scoring chances in the second half. I would however note that this is U17 level. Teams won't exactly have good defences. Actually at this level defending is mostly crap.
All squads have been announced: http://www.fifadata.com/document/FU17/2013/pdf/FU17_2013_SquadLists.pdf A lot of nice data like height of players and age. --- COTE d'IVOIRE TEAM: GK: Seck DIABAGATE (Royal FC, Ghana), Koko GAHIE (AS Denguele, CIV), El Hadje DANTE (L'Espoir de Koumassi, CIV) DF: Narcisse TANO (Alliance d'Abengourou, CIV), Souleymane DIABY (USC Bassam, CIV), Sherif JIMOH (Athletic FC Adjame, CIV), Ismael DIALLO (ES Bingerville, CIV), Franck KESSIE (Stella Club, CIV), Toussaint KOUAKOU (AS Divo, CIV) MF: Digbo MAIGA (Ivoire Academie, CIV), Meite YAKOU (Paris Saint-Germain), Braciano TA BI (Athletic FC Adjame, CIV), Ousmane DIALLO (ASI Abengourou, CIV), Junior AHISSAN (Ivoire Academie, CIV), Dogbole NIANGBO (USC Bassam, CIV), Aboubacar KEITA (ATM Abobo, CIV) FW: Kouame N'GUESSAN (Sewe Sport, CIV), Chris BEDIA (Tours FC, FRA), Moussa BAKAYOKO (USC Bassam, CIV), Kouassi BEGBIN (CO Domoraud, CIV), Cedric KOUADIO (ES Bingerville, CIV) Coach: Ibrahima KAMARA (CIV) Similar to Nigeria just a few non-local players - first choice goalkeeper Diabagate based in Ghana and Yakou (PSG) + star striker Bedia (Tours FC)