England look to defeat USA
20 Oct 2017 4:32 PM GMT
Margao: England and the USA will face each other in their FIFA U-17 World Cup quarter-final match on Saturday, aiming to enhance their reputation in this age-group event which they are yet to win despite a strong tradition of qualifying for global finals.
The USA's best effort remains a fourth-place finish in the 1999 edition.
England made their FIFA U-17 World Cup debut a decade ago, with India 2017 being the Young Lions' fourth outing on the global stage at this age level.
They reached the quarterfinals on debut in 2007, when they were beaten by Germany.
At Mexico 2011, the Germans once again dispatched their English counterparts. Last time, at Chile 2015, England failed to reach the knockout stages.
England will take some confidence from the fact that they finally broke the penalty shootout jinx, with goalkeeper Curtis Anderson pulling off some fine saves when the pressure was intense against Japan.
They should be battle ready having registered a hard- fought 5-3 win in the penalty shootout. In the absence of Sancho, England struggled to open up the Japanese defence and looked less penetrative.
Ghana take on Mali
Guwahati: With very little separating the two in strategy and technique, Ghana could count on their better defensive organisation against Mali in an all-African quarterfinal of the FIFA U-17 World Cup on Saturday.
Two-time champions Ghana are seeking to revive their glory days in the tournament, having last won it way back in 1995.
They have shown the intent from the word go, and barring the reverse against USA in the group stage, the Ghanians have been on the ball. Besides a tight defensive unit and the speed of their attackers, Ghana will be backed up by a handful of vociferous globe-trotting supporters, who had been seen in all the venues so far in the tournament.
Having topped Group A, Ghana eased into the last eight with goals from skipper Eric Ayiah striking twice. Ayiah has led the Black Starlets from the front and is one of the top scorers of the tournament.
He will certainly be one of the players to watch out for. Up against their west African counterparts, Ayiah, as well as coach Fabin, know the importance of the game.
Attendance at U-17 World Cup crosses one million
New Delhi: The attendance for matches of the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 breached the million mark in the final match of the Round of 16.
The cumulative total as of now stands at 1,007,396.
The last set of pre-quarterfinal matches involved Ghana against Niger and Brazil versus Honduras on Wednesday.
Tournament director of the local organising committee, Javier Ceppi said it would be an understatement to say that they are overwhelmed by the response from across the country.
To ensure that as many seats as possible are utilised, the LOC is "recalling" some of the complimentary tickets given so far.
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