Kolkata: European heavyweights England and France got off to a flying start in the FIFA U-17 World Cup after thrashing Chile and New Caledonia by a 4-0 and 7-1 margins respectively. Jadon Sancho and Amine Gouiri, with two goals each were the stars for their teams.
Playing at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan stadium which was hosting an official match after a hiatus of one year and eight months, the 2017 U-17 Euro runners-up got the best possible start, when Callum Hudson-Odoi scored within the first five minutes. Jadon Sancho who recently snapped a move to Borussia Dortmund soon doubled the lead in the early minutes of the second half after Chile custodian Julio Borquez failed to clear a ball. Nine minutes later the Englishmen had their third when midfielder George McEachran dribbled past three defenders before passing it to Sancho at the far post, who made no mistake in slotting the ball home.
The Three Lions’ boys with a 70% possession controlled the whole proceedings and Sancho with one assist and two goals to his name was their biggest star before he was taken off for Angel Gomes. The youngster from Manchester United youth academy scored his team’s final goal with a wonderfully taken free-kick in the 81st minute.
Chile, who had just one shot on target in the whole match looked clinically lost throughout the match and added wound to their woes when goalkeeper Julio Borquez was sent off in the 79th minute following a harsh tackle on Brewster, owing to frustrations.
Meanwhile, former champions France got off to an emphatic start after diminishing world cup debutants Caledonia with seven goals at the Indira Gandhi stadium in Guwahati. Six of those goals came in the first half itself.
Star striker Amine Gouiri scored two goals while assisting one while Claudio Gomes, Maxence Caqueret and Kiam Wanesse chipped in with a goal apiece. The New Caledonian defence further helped their cause by scoring two own goals, all in the first half.
Les Bleus could have had more but New Caledonia goalkeeper Une Kecine produced a series of fine saves to deny the opposition in several occasions, this included a fine penalty save from Caqueret in the 54th minute. Kecine also won the hearts of fans after he continued despite being injured knowing this his team had used up all the substitutions and will be a man short if he went off.
The losing side however showed some resistance and also scored an consolation goal in the dying minutes of the game, when Sidri Wadenges shot in a ball from a set-piece, their their ever goal in a FIFA competition.
Japan crush Honduras; Keito Nakamura scores a hat-trick
Keito Nakamura etched his name into the history books after scoring the first hat-trick of the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup, helping Japan thrash Honduras 6-1. The Japan number 13 this became only the second Asian after Khaled Jasem of Bahrain in 1989, to score a hat-trick. He is also the 32nd player to score a hat-trick in the U-17 World Cup.
Takefusa Kubo, dubbed the Japanese Messi scored the fourth while Taisei Miyashiro and Toichi Suzuki chipped in with the fifth and sixth goals respectively to bring up the win.
Brief Scores:
GROUP E –
Guwahati: France 7 (IWA 5′ OG, GOUIRI 19′, 33′ GOMES 30′ CAQUERET 40′ WANESSE 43′ OG ISIDOR 90’+1) beat New Caledonia 1 (WADENGES 90′)
Japan 6 (Keito Nakamura 22′, 30′, 43′ Takefusa Kubo 45′ Taisei Miyashiro 51′ Toichi Suzuki 90′) beat Honduras 1 (Patrick Palacios 36′)
GROUP F:
Kolkata: England 4 (C. Hudson-Odoi 5′ J. Sancho 51′, 60′ A. Gomes 81′) beat Chile 0
Iraq 1 (M. DAWOOD 16′) drew with Mexico 1 (R. DE LA ROSA 51′)