Looking forward to challenging a dangerous English side, Mexico U-17 coach Mario Arteaga said that his team will take on a team whose defence was not put to the test so far.
England beat Chile by a massive 4-0 scoreline in the first match and will take on the two-time champions in the second match of their group stage.
The Europeans, Arteaga feels, will give his team more space to attack, rather than restrict the Mexicans like Iraq did in the first match that ended in a 1-1 draw.
“We know that Jadon Sancho is a dangerous player, but if we focus on him too much, the other explosive players who can attack will strike,” he said, addressing the media.
Taking the example of Hudson-Odoi, who scored the first goal in England’s win over Chile, he said the English players know how to creep behind defences to launch unexpected attacks.
“We have closely followed the team’s performance much before the tournament started and we have an idea of what to expect from them. We are ready to take them on.”
Unlike Iraq and Chile, whose training sessions were cancelled yesterday, the incessant rains in Kolkata did not seem to affect the Mexico team’s preparations as the team enjoyed sessions in conditions they are now accustomed.
When asked what the coach and player Alexis Gutierrez, who was present at the presser, thought of India’s performance in the tournament so far, they held nothing back.
“We played India a couple of months back in our country,” said Gutierrez. “We were surprised by their abilities back then. We watched them play (against Columbia) yesterday and we think they deserved to win. We are not surprised by how India fought against a tough Columbian team as we saw them play with enthusiasm before.”
Arteaga said that India must be proud of scoring against a team with a long history of playing in the World Cup and that he could see the team immensely improving in the future.
