Draw for the tournament is about to begin. It's possible that India and New Caledonia wind-up in the same group.
India get a terrible group... Can't see them making it out of this one. Ghana, Colombia and USA - not a single easy game. India - USA the opener. Ghana and USA pooled together again. USA lost decisively at U20 level some time ago, so USA will be stark underdogs at U17 level, especially given Ghana have be one of pre-tournament favorites with their tournament history. Group F with Mexico (CONCACAF champions), Chile (CONMEBOL runnerups), England (UEFA runner ups) and Iraq (AFC champions) would be the closest we have to a group of death, but apart from that pretty well rounded groups. Nigeria failed to qualify, so their won't extend their domination of this tournament and Brasil can play catch up. Brasil and Spain, apart from Ghana and Mexico two of the tournament favorites and champions of their respective confeds are pooled together. They get Niger and North Korea. I guess people are mostly slobbering all over the possibility to see Vinicius Jr in action. He hasn't exactly lighted up the Brasileiro so far... Other players to watch Jadon Sancho (England), Amine Gouiri (France), Jann Fiete-Arp (Germany), Jan Carlos Hurtado (Colombia), Eric Ayiah (Ghana), Djibril Toure (Mali)
I wouldn't read too much in to Mexico winning the CONCACAF championship. The US and Mexico were pretty even in accomplishments and in both games they played. Both were by far the class teams of the qualifying tournament. I can't see one being a tournament favorite and the other being a stark underdog.
This is a tournament that is always a big if. We never know which teams are the strongest until the group phase is done. But if there is anything constant at the u17 World Cup it's Brasil, Nigeria and to a lesser extent Mexico and Ghanna almost always being the team's to beat. USA is not a stark underdog in the tournament. They are an underdog against Ghana though based solely on tournament history.
I made a short, if pointless summary, of USA at the U17 World Cup. Surprisingly USA has a dominant head to head against CONMEBOL teams with 5 wins as compared to 3 losses (this includes wins over all the traditional South American heavyweights, including Brazil). The situation vs African teams isn't as rosy with 7 losses, 2 wins and 1 draw, with the two wins coming against African lightweights Malawi and Sierra Leone.. The H2H vs Europeans teams isn't that bad - 8 losses, 5 wins, 3 draws, albeit it becomes worse the closer we get to modern day.
Even though India qualified automatically, they still took part in qualifying and finished in last place in their group (13th overall in the 16-team tournament which they also hosted). So yeah... India will get beat like a drum!
Tournament starts in a week. Here are the squads: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_FIFA_U-17_World_Cup_squads
There's a good chance Jadon Sancho won't be playing for England as Dortmund don't want him to leave, but the FA are doing their best to keep him. Even without him England are among favorites to win it all.
Obvious favorites: Brazil - stormed to win the title with 7 wins, 2 draws and a 24-3 aggregate scoreline. Germany, England, Spain - not much between the teams, but UEFA U17 championships can be deceiving. Mexico - strong winning tradition at the tournament. Mali - really big lads, their physicality could be a game changer at this level. Ghana - always strong at this level.
England and Spain are above Germany IMO at least. I'm biased, but fully healthy England is the best European side. Great skill and keep the very well, and can break down anybody. Sancho could still be released by Dortmund to play so there's that still to come.
Iran just beat France 4-0 and Mexico 3-0 in a friendly tournament in marbella Spain, we could very well be a dark horse to win this tournament or at the very least make the semis. The team has improved a lot from last year where we finished runners up in Asia losing the final in pks after a 0-0 draw with Iraq, also those games were held in India so we are already familiar with the area and that could be a huge plus for Iran and all the other Asian teams.
England have a very strong set of players including the likes of Phil Foden, Angel Gomes, Jadon Sancho(group stage only), George McEachran, Rhian Brewster and Callum Hudson-Odoi. England don't always perform at this level but they've got some big talents.
This is by far the best squad they've ever taken to a U17 tournament, just like the U20s this summer and we know how that worked out. Update on Sancho: He'll be joining back up with England, but will only be available for the group stage. Pretty daft situation when we can't have him for the most important part of the tournament when he'll ultimately be taking up someone elses spot. I'm excited to see him play, but I'm not so sure he should be in the squad. Then again why can't Dortmund just let him play the whole thing?
U17 WORLD CUP: 10 PLAYERS TO WATCH OUT FOR http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/ten-...fifa-u17-world-cup/187qlcj5zzk3e16cknz1x8tw63
Group B looking like the group of death. New Zealand seems to be a handful. I was really impressed by their goal. Completely took advantage of Turkey's naivete.
Results in this tournament so far: Group A India v USA 0:3 Columbia v Ghana 0:1 --- Group B Paraguay v Mali 3:2 New Zealand v Turkey 1:1 -- Group C Germany v Costa Rica 2:1 Iran v Guinea 3:1
Group E New Caledonia 1 - 7 France Honduras 1 - 6 Japan Group F Chile 0 - 4 England Iraq 1 - 1 Mexico
England have looked like the most dominating team so far. Chlie held their own in the first half, but the flood gates opened in the second half.
USA - Ghana 1:0 Mali - Turkey 3:0 USA - Ghana was a close match, USA slightly better first half, Ghana better in the second. If Colombia beat India this group could be heading for three teams on 6 pts. Both teams should do well in the tournament. Only watched the highlights oif Mali - Turkey, but if they and the stats are to be believed Turkey was absoilutely pummeled and 3:0 was the minimum punishment. Most dominant highlight reel of this tournament... Meanwhile some shock results so far in Colombia - India and New Zealand - Paraguay
Outside of Brazil this is a bad South American group. Which makes Argentina's failure to qualify all the worse. Meanwhile, Asia has a really good group this year.