On Friday in Abu Dhabi, the final of the FIFA U-17
World Cup UAE 2013 will pit reigning champions
Mexico against three-time winners Nigeria. This highly
anticipated clash will be the second time that the
teams have faced each other at this year’s tournament,
with both having emerged from the same section.
The schedule
Final – 8 November
Nigeria-Mexico (Abu Dhabi, Mohamed Bin Zayed
Stadium, 20:00 local time)
The match
Group F may well have been the proverbial ‘group of
death,’ but three of the four teams it contained
survived until the semi-finals, and two made it all the
way to the final.
Long before the tournament even kicked off, Mexico
and Nigeria were already regarded as favourites to
claim the silverware. But after the 6-1 humiliation
suffered by El Tri in their opening match against the
Golden Eaglets, the title holders’ dreams of defending
their trophy appeared to have been prematurely
crushed, while the Africans confirmed they would be a
force to be reckoned with.
But 20 days later, the final is likely to be a completely
different story.
As the Nigerians went from strength to strength, Raul
Gutierrez’s men dug deep to recover mentally and
concentrate on the attributes exhibited by their
victorious predecessors in 2011. Judging by the two
semi-finals, where Nigeria saw off Sweden 3-0 and
Mexico defeated Argentina by the same scoreline, the
showpiece match on Friday should be a closely
contested affair.
Manu Garba’s charges have two significant statistics in
their favour: they are yet to be beaten in the
competition, and they boast the most prolific attack
(23 goals). Kelechi Iheanacho, Taiwo Awoniyi and Musa
Yahaya spearhead a side that is constantly on the
move and harasses the opposition with or without the
ball, posing a serious challenge for any defence.
El Tri, meanwhile, have found the net with much less
frequency (11 times), but can boast a compact unit
that bounced back from their initial setback to
eliminate Brazil and Argentina.
The stat
24 – Third at Mexico 2011, Germany broke the record
for the number of goals scored at the FIFA U-17 World
Cup by finding the net no fewer than 24 times. After
having surpassed their own benchmark of 20 goals,
the Nigerians (23) now find themselves one strike
away from equalling the Germans’ impressive haul.
With two matches left to play and 164 goals already
recorded, UAE 2013 looks likely to become the most
prolific U-17 World Cup ever, surpassing Korea
Republic 2007 (165).
The player to watch
Marco Granados (Mexico)
The Chivas Guadalajara forward is El Tri’s secret
weapon. The supersub has taken part in all six of his
team’s matches, but has only been on the pitch for a
total of 106 minutes. He makes up for his lack of
playing time with high-quality incursions and intensity
– in the quarter-final against Brazil, the Mexican No10
came off the bench to provoke a dangerous free-kick
which led to the opener, and in the semi-final versus
Argentina, he smashed home his side’s third goal. If
Granados makes a cameo appearance in the final, the
Nigerian defence would do well to keep him closely
shackled.
The words
“There won’t be any pressure on us against Mexico,
because we’ll be physically and mentally prepared for
the match. But I repeat that Mexico are a dangerous
and very skilful team. We’ve witnessed their resilience
since losing to us 6-1, a result which did not prevent
them from reaching the final,” Nigeria coach Manu
Garba



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