Nigeria team: Goalkeepers: Dele Sunday Alampasu (Football College Academy), Francis Uzoha Odinaka (Aspire Academy, Qatar), Abubakar Abdulazeez (Nath Boys Academy - 160 cm GK - WTH?) Defenders: Chidiebere Nwakali (Shuttle Spots Academy), Zaraddeen Bello (Dabo Babes Academy), Mohammed Musa (FC Heart Academy), Dennis Okon (Canaan Football Academy), Godwin Samuel (Greater Tomorrow Academy), Abubakar Aliyu (Mutunchi Academy), Japhet Raymond (NFF U-15) Midfielders: Alfa Abdullahi (Football College Academy), Habib Makanjuola (Chelsea FC), Musa Yahaya (Mutunchi Academy), Baba Salihu (Rangers Academy Bida), Idowu Akinjide (Nath Boys Academy), Chigozie Obasi (Fosla Academy), Godwin Saviour (El-Kadme Academy) Forwards: Taiwo Awoniyi (Imperial Academy), Chidera Ezeh (River Lane Academy), Isaac Success (BJ Foundation Academy), Kelechi Iheanacho (Taye Academy) Nice to see a squad of purely youth players from development teams. Not the biggest squad with only 3 players above 180 cm (two defenders the 2m Aliyu and the 185 cm Okon and the towering GK Alampasu 199 cm). Seems like Nigeria will be destined to play these players, because some of the squad are much taller (like Argentina, Croatia and Italy). Just Chelsea kid Makanjuola and third choice GK Odinaka foreign-based.
TUNISIA SQUAD GK: Sabri BEN HESSEN (CS Sfaxien), Hamza BEN CHRIFIA (Esperance Sportive de Tunis), Charfeddine GHIDHAOUI (JS Kairouan) DF: Yasser SLIMI, Ameur EL OMRANI, Bahaeddine OTHMAN (all Etoile du Sahel), Marouane SAHRAOUI, Sabri AKROUT, Mohamed SALEM (all Esperance Sportive de Tunis), Khalil HNID (AS Marca) MF: Wassim NAGHMOUCHI, Mouez ABOUD, Maher GABSI (all Esperance Sportive de Tunis), Chiheb JBELI, Kouni KHALFA, Rached ARFAOUI (all Club Africain), Mohamed BEN LARBI (AS Marca), Mohamed DRAGER (SC Freiburg, GER) FW: Hazem HAJ HASSEN (Etoile du Sahel), Bilel MEJRI, Nidhal BEN SALEM (all Esperance Sportive de Tunis) Coach: Abdelhay BEN SOLTANE (TUN) Interesting to note that top Tunisian club Esperance has 9 players out of 21, while Etoile has 4 players and Club Africain 3. Only one foreign based player: midfielder Mohamed Drager based in Germany, who seems to be a highly regarded talent in German youth football.
I was actually about to make fun of the Ivoirian goalie which is 167 cm... but then the Nigerian showed up Interestingly enough Nigeria has a group with other midgets like Mexico and Iraq. Interesting to see what happens when these teams come up against Sweden, which are big and strong lads (in general all European teams seem to be much taller than all other teams (save for New Zealand which actually has the tallest squad at the tournament). Five players at the tournament born in 1998: Obasi (MF, Nigeria), Uzoho (GK, Nigeria), Santos (MF, Panama), Dante (GK, Cote d'Ivoire) and Hussein (FW, Iraq) Five players aged 14 born in 1999: Makanjuola (MF, Nigeria), Ta Bi (MF, Cote d'Ivoire), Niangbo (MF, Cote d'Ivoire), Diaby (DF, Cote d'Ivoire), Abubakar (GK, Nigeria) That means 8 of the 10 youngest players at the tournament are African. The youngest is Ta Bi, who was born 5th December 1999... still not even a 14 year old.
Usually the shorter teams do the best lol.. Mexico being short still have a high technical game and plenty of IQ along with speed and high grade build-up. They also have a future World Class striker in Granados whose probably their biggest player, both tall and corpulent. any who point is size usually doesn't matter at any level, especially at this one.
Thats insane, a 13-year old playing in a U17 World Cup! Had this Ta Bi been born one month later he might have played the next two U17 World Cups Massive talents in Africa, only need the right guidance.
He is Mexico's tallest outfield players (the goalies are taller), but at 184 cm he isn't really that tall. Ivorians for example aren't tall, but are very bulky. Any thoughts on your home team of Honduras? Tough group with the hosts, Brasil and what on paper is the waeakest European side, Slovakia?
Granados is not just tall.. but has a lot of muscle.. he's almost built like a Drogba type for his age. He shields very well and he doesn't hold back on the flair. Scored a bike on us and has one helluva cannon on him. He's a very promising player in Mexico, gives a lot of defenders fits. Hopefully Nigeria can contain him. I think 2nd place is attainable for my side. All domestic based.. kids have been playing together for almost two years now so they have plenty of chemistry. A team you can't afford to sleep on, especially a team whose very used to the hot weather so 2nd half is where they might make the difference in games. Alberth Elis will have to be our goal scorer. Wanted by a host of European teams.
That Argentine team isn't very good lol.. poorly coach. Everything is solely based on individual play by the players.
Venezuela won against Panama twice, drew with Argentina. I think we have a chance to go to second round. About our rivals : Tunisia does not seem to be a strong rival, Russia is the champion of Europe but drew against Canada 1-1 two days ago. Japan is the runners-up of Asia, always strong in this category. We'll see.
Just purely based on friendlies and qualification would seem like Mexico, Nigeria, Brasil and Italy are the juggernauts, while UAE, Cote d'Ivoire, Morocco, Sweden, Russia and Panama will hope to upset. Still think Europe will do very poorly in the Emirate heat... Can't see any European team anywhere near the title. Also think Nigeria and Morocco will strongly benefit from setting up camp in Qatar, unlike 7 teams that decided to camp at Marbella in Spain (UAE, Argentina, Cote d'Ivoire, Panama, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Mexico). The former teams will be better adjusted to the dry weather of UAE. Albeit the latter teams have the bonus of having played several friendlies in preparation. EDIT: just checked out UEFA qualification... A meagre 24 goals were scored in the 15 qualification games (at this level goals normally are more freeflowing). Suggests either good defences or subpar attacking capabilities. The top scorer of the tournament had just 2 goals! Compare it to CONMEBOL (92 goals in 35 games) or CAF (60 goals in 16 games).
Today's games 9with Cote d'Ivoire vs Italy the big one): BRASIL vs SLOVAKIA 17:00 GMT URUGUAY vs NEW ZEALAND 17:00 GMT UAE vs HONDURAS 20:00 GMT COTE D'IVOIRE vs ITALY 20:00 GMT
Cote d'Ivoire starting XI vs Italy: GK: Seck DIABAGATE (Royal FC, Ghana) DF: Narcisse TANO (Alliance d'Abengourou, CIV), Sherif JIMOH (Athletic FC Adjame, CIV), Ismael DIALLO (ES Bingerville, CIV), Franck KESSIE (Stella Club, CIV) MF: Digbo MAIGA (Ivoire Academie, CIV), Meite YAKOU (Paris Saint-Germain), Aboubacar KEITA (ATM Abobo, CIV) FW: Kouame N'GUESSAN (Sewe Sport, CIV), Chris BEDIA (Tours FC, FRA), Kouassi BEGBIN (CO Domoraud, CIV) Surprisingly Ahissan and Niangbo don't start.
Cote d'Ivoire - Italy 0:1 The Ivorians in a boring game vs Italy looking very one-dimensional. Neither team looked fluent in play with both teams mostly destructive forces. Seeing Cote d'Ivoire play I can understand why they don't score many goals. Main problem was that the coach seemed to have no plan B - all game long balls to the front three, which more often than not never found the target man Bedia. Cote d'Ivoire players seemed lanky and not too nimble on the ball. Looked like they haven't fully learnt how to control their bodies yet (that said similarly with the Italians). Positives are captain Kessie, who as a defender is remarkable presence, calm and dribbling skills, striker Bedia who always looked dangerous whenever he actually got the ball and substitue Ahissan who added some flair in attack. Really liked to go roaming forward. In general the Ivorians are a very good defensive unit with good destruction capabilities, but prone to the odd stupid gaffe. Now Cote d'Ivoire vs Uruguay (who mauled New Zealand 7:0). Remains to be seen if Uruguay are that good or New Zealand that bad. Given the pre-tournament Uruguay loss to Slovakia (who were mauled by Brasil 6:1) I would guess its the latter. Expect all three teams to go through due to New Zealand being the group punching bag.
Tunisia squad vs Venezuela (not exactly sure, but could it be a 4-4-2?): GK: Sabri BEN HESSEN (CS Sfaxien) DF: Bahaeddine OTHMAN (all Etoile du Sahel), Marouane SAHRAOUI, Sabri AKROUT (all Esperance Sportive de Tunis), Khalil HNID (AS Marca) MF: Wassim NAGHMOUCHI, Mouez ABOUD (all Esperance Sportive de Tunis), Chiheb JBELI (Club Africain), Mohamed BEN LARBI (AS Marca) FW: Hazem HAJ HASSEN (Etoile du Sahel), Nidhal BEN SALEM (Esperance Sportive de Tunis) Morocco squad vs Croatia (just found out that Morocco has the most foreign based players of all teams!): GK: Oussayd Belkouch (Club Brugge) DF: Younes Boudadi (Club Brugge), Mohamed El Bouazzati (Borussia Dortmund), Achraf Achaoui (Standard Liège) MF: Omar Arjoune (Raja Casablanca), Sofyan Amrabat (FC Utrecht), Walid Sebar (Raja Casablanca), Yassine Khadraoui (Bayer Leverkusen) FW: Nabil Jaadi (Anderlecht), Karim Achahbar (EA Guingamp), Hamza Sakhi (Châteauroux) Marzouk surprisingly on the bench. Morocco with a 3-4-3 formation? Both games start in just over half an hour.
Apart from Italy Europe suffering! HALFTIME: Morocco hammering Croatia 3:0: Achahbar 27', 40', Jaadi 45' Tunisia edging out Venezuela 1:0: Jbeli 25'
Two big wins make the North African teams favorite to win their group: Morocco vs Croatia 3:1 Karim ACHAHBAR 27', 40', Nabil JAADI 45' - Robert MURIC 59' Good dominant showing by Morocco, although Croatia showed some teeth in the second. Marzouk really should have punished Croatia several times on the counter. Tunisia vs Venezuela 2:1 Chiheb JBELI 25', Mohamed BEN LARBI 47' PEN - Jose MARQUEZ 51' Tunisia win despite being down to 10 men for most of the game. Nice to see big crowds again! Was it because North African teams were involved or the decision to make tickets free.
Good match by Morocco but gave away the match far to easily in the second half. At one point I was certain that Croatia would get back. Still room for improvement. Achahbar impressed, many questioned why he was chosen instead of Bnou Marzouk, including me but i think he silenced us all! Judging by the crowds i saw, most of the spectators were Moroccans. There is a big expatriate community of Moroccans in the UAE. I guess the mix of the expatriates, Moroccans travelling from Morocco/Europe and the combination of first match in Fujairah and free tickets contributed to the big crowd.
Only one change up front (Begbin replaced by Junior Ahissan) GK: Seck DIABAGATE (Royal FC, Ghana) DF: Narcisse TANO (Alliance d'Abengourou, CIV), Sherif JIMOH (Athletic FC Adjame, CIV), Ismael DIALLO (ES Bingerville, CIV), Franck KESSIE (Stella Club, CIV) MF: Digbo MAIGA (Ivoire Academie, CIV), Meite YAKOU (Paris Saint-Germain), Aboubacar KEITA (ATM Abobo, CIV) FW: Kouame N'GUESSAN (Sewe Sport, CIV), Chris BEDIA (Tours FC, FRA), Junios AHISSAN (Ivoire Academie, CIV)
All four African teams through to the next round Cote d'Ivoire: Hasn't really impressed during the group stages and looks nothing like the reigning African champions. One reason might be that they lost 5 players caught being overage right before the tournament but I had bigger expectations than this. Might have been a little unlucky to not win against Uruguay and a boring game against Italy could have gone either way but there seems to be something missing in this team.. Made it through thanks to a victory against New Zealand and will now face Morocco, a repeat of the African Championship semi-final! I still have hope in this team though and I still think they can win this WC if they get their act together Morocco: Did their job and went through. Had a bright start with a 3-1 victory against Croatia and that first-half performance against Croatia made me believe that they could go all the way in this tournament. Sadly it was only that half and in the next match against Uzbekistan they didn't manage to break through an ultra-defensive Uzbekistan side and looked pretty clueless. Won their last match against Panama 4-2 after struggling in the first 20-25 minutes. Cote d'Ivoire awaits in the next match and Moroccos best defender El Bouazzati is out injured. CIV are in my eyes slight favorites. Tunisia: Got 6 hard-fought points in the group stage and was going for 9 before losing against Japan in the last 5 minutes of that match, they were simply to tired. Argentina is next for Tunisia and I think Tunisia can take this. They are very tight and organized at the back, especially now that center-back Sahraoui returns from injury, and the Argentines will find it difficult to score against them. Got what in my opinion is the best goalkeeper in this tournament as well. Nigeria: Best team in the tournament? I think so, even though Sweden proved that it is possible to get a result against a team that seems unbeatable. Brushed Mexico and Iraq aside. There are only two teams that in my opinion can beat this team, CIV and Brazil. Are assured to not meet any of them before the final. But there are three matches before the final and this is football, anything can happen. First hurdle is Iran, and they might give Nigeria some opposition.
I think a lot hinges on whether or not Success Isaac recovers from his injury. Without him Nigeria are a bit less deadly and waste lots of opportunities. Success Isaac is truely a revelation and even though he scored just one goal against Mexico, the thrashing was all him. Future superstar in the making and IMHO best player of the tournament. Second thing: Nigeria has proven to be defensively prone and although they look sure to score tonnes of goals, they also look like to lose several. I would however also add Japan as a team that could take on Nigeria. They are fast and very well structured.