Link to match schedule below. US drawn in Group E with UAE, Malawi, and Spain http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tou...8/80/96/nigeria2009matchschedulefinal(v2).pdf Other groups: Group A: Nigeria, Germany, Honduras, Argentina Group B: Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Switzerland Group C: Iran, Gambia, Colombia, Netherlands Group D: Turkey, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, New Zealand Group F: Uruguay, S. Korea, Algeria, Italy Group A is a BEAST. Group B is tough too.
I was going to say the same thing. You just never know at the U-17 level....but you have to like our chances against Malawi and UAE. It's too bad we don't have this luck with the draw on the senior level.
Actually, the US got one of the best draws. You could make a case that it's the easiest group. The happiest team is probably Turkey. But, the only predictable thing about U17's.....is that it's unpredictable. If we finish 1st in the group, then we play 2nd from D!!! And that looks to be Burkina Faso, New Zealand, or Costa Rica. Do it boys!!!! If we finish 2nd in the group, then we play 1st if F. You know who that probably is? Italy........again. Dammit.
For those who want the dates: October 26: Spain October 29: Malawi November 1: UAE November 4/5: Round of 16 November 8/9: QF November 12: Semis November 15: Final I'd rather not play Spain 1st, but when you get a draw like that.........you can't really complain.
http://www.dailytimes.bppmw.com/article.asp?ArticleID=13954 http://allafrica.com/stories/200906100111.html Group C looks very tough, Iran won the Asian Championship, Gambia won the African Championship, Netherlands were second in Europe and Colombia beat Brazil in the South American Championship. Spain had a rather unusual stint in the European finals, drawing all three of their matches 0-0.
Any word yet on whether Fifa is going to go ahead with letting Nigeria host? Seems more than a little unstable over there right now. There seem like plenty of wiser alternatives in Africa for hosting. Love the draw, and also like where we go if we make it out of the group. Doesn't really seem like any massive power houses in waiting facing us. That being said, others are right, if we could lose to freaking Tajikistan last time, we could lose to anybody, particularly at this age.
The tournament will definitely take place in Nigeria, FIFA has named all venues yesterday. They excluded Warri but that's it.
Does anyone know if the U.S. U-17 World Cup games will be on tv? Are they usually televised? I'd love to watch this team play.
And will anybody be trying to get highlights of them on the internet? I wouldn't mind having them in one of my videos.
I may be wrong but I believe the last U-17 World Cup was shown on Fox Soccer Channel (i believe it was more games than the us only too because i remember watching Bojan and Spain play against Toni Kroos and Germany), so I would think this one would be too. I could be wrong though.
The US games were on ESPNU...................the only US game that was on ESPN2 was the 3:45 AM game vs Tunisia.
Was that the U-17s? I remember that ESPNU showed the U-20s last time around. Don't recall about the U-17s. FSC has had them in the past.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure the U17s were on ESPNU last cycle. I remember because I didn't get ESPNU at my house so I had to watch some of the games in a friend's dorm room. I'd imagine they'd be on ESPNU again, hopefully ESPN2 will show a couple of games, seeing as they won't be on at 3:45 am this time around.
Thanks for the replies. Sounds like the games should be on whether FSC, ESPNU or ESPN2. I don't think I get ESPNU, but am sure I'll be able to figure out somewhere to watch. I'm really looking forward to the US opener with Spain. I watched on FSC when this team beat Brazil in '07 and want to see how they handle the competition in a bigtime tournament against a quality opponent.
mexico will win yet another u-17 WC we are absoulutley stacked this year, univision had all the games last wc, so that's probably your best bet.
I think there should be video streams available on the FIFA website too...If I remember correctly, they did it last time too. Btw age cheating... apparently 16 out of 35 Nigerian players are older than 17...lol
That's no surprise. There's a reason Nigeria has won three U-17 titles. I don't know if the links are in this thread.......but according to some sources........only one African nation didn't use overage players in the qualifying tournament. African football is a mess. The player's are talented, but the individual FA's are just corrupt and shambolic.
Doesn't strike me as the type of tournament FSC would normally show. Many of the under-17 games will conflict with Premiership or Champions League. I doubt espn2 would even show under-20, nevermind u-17. I think we'll be relying on univision, galavision, telefutura, etc. for most of the matches. ESPNU will hopefully carry the US games.