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Karthik Ravindranath
Karthik Ravindranath

FIFA U-17 WC

Group D preview: The group of dreams

north-korea-practice-panackal DPR North Korea's Under 17 football team practicing at Maharaja's college stadium | Josekutty Panackal

Kochi is divided! The battle lines are drawn. The city’s opening fixture, Brazil vs Spain is being touted as the match of the tournament. North Korea and Niger complete a group that is the stuff of dreams. Brazil and Spain are clear favourites, but North Korea emanates an eerie calm and Niger are ready to go all-out in their first ever World Cup appearance. Both the underdogs will be eyeing a decent third place finish to sustain hopes of progressing. Five matches will take place in Kochi and one in Goa.

Team previews

Korea DPR

Coach: Kim Yong-su

They reached the semifinals of the AFC U-16 Championships last year and impressed with their counter-attacking game. They are hoping to employ the same strategy against Brazil and Spain. Coach Yong-su has made it clear that they consider the first match against Niger very important for their prospects in the tournament. This is their fifth appearance in the U-17 World Cup and they reached the quarterfinals in Chile 2015. Midfielder Kim Pom Hyok is the key player in the team.

Niger

Coach: Ismaila Tiemoko

Coached by one of Niger’s all-time greats, Tiemoko who was nicknamed 'the emperor', Niger are not going to be easy opponents for anybody. They find themselves in a difficult group, locking horns with giants of the game, but those who write them off would do well to remember that they are the reason reigning champions and five-time winners Nigeria are not here to defend their crown. The world cup debutants reached the semifinals of the 2017 U-17 African Cup losing out to Ghana on penalties. Tiemoko said that the team has a different strategy for each of their opponents in the group and is focused on progressing from the group.

Brazil

Coach: Carlos Amadeu

The South American champions. Three-time U-17 world champions. They are definitely the team to beat in this tournament. They lost to Nigeria in the quarterfinals in 2015 and will be looking to move to within one title of the absent Nigeria in this edition. Even in the absence of 45 million euro-teenager Vinicius Jr, Brazil are unfazed. They have a great squad, with Vinicius’s clubmate Lincoln expected to be the main focal point. But even amid the excess of flair, it is a team game for Brazil. As captain Vitao said, “Our offence starts with defence and defence starts with offence.”

Spain

Coach: Santiago Denia

The architects are the reigning U-17 European champions. They won their ninth European title earlier this year, but the U-17 World Cup is still missing from their collection. They have finished second thrice. This time with a team oozing class, trained at the finest academies of Spain, including nine players from Barcelona and Real Madrid’s youth setups, Spain will be hard to stop. Barcelona B’s Abel Ruiz, who is the top goal scorer for Spain in this age group, will lead their attack. Right now, the major challenge for Spain seem to be adjusting to the weather, for no other team seems to playing quite at their level.

Fixtures

Oct 7:

Brazil vs Spain (5pm)

DPR Korea vs Niger (8pm)

Oct 10:

Spain vs Niger (5pm)

DPR Korea vs Brazil (8pm)

Oct 13:

Niger vs Brazil (8pm)

Spain vs DPR Korea (8pm)

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