FIFA U17 World Cup 2017: How all the 24 teams qualified for the showpiece event

Group D

Korea DPR | Niger | Brazil | Spain

Korea qualified simply by dragging their heavy feet through the harrowing mud and reaching their primary objective of somehow being in the top four in the Asian qualifiers.

Niger are another surprise package in this U-17 football fest partly perhaps due to the complacency of the Nigerians who were handed a shock aggregate defeat. Thereafter, the ‘Junior Menas’ capitalized on that opportunity to reach the last four in the continental rounds.

How lopsided will it be when both these fourth-place finishers encounter the first boys in their respective territories? The news is not that Brazil won the championship undefeated, it is that they had two stalemates Though they will not benefit from the services of Vinicius their highest scorer in the championships, one will discount them at their own risk.

Then there is Spain – they won the European U-17 crown alright but it was not all smooth sailing. England gave them a good run for their money and stretched them till the shoot-outs (1-4) after drawing the first blood.