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

Group F

Iraq | Mexico | England | Chile

Iraq started on decently strong note securing the second spot in the group-stages and rose in strength to get the better of the Uzbeks and Japan in the pre-penultimate and penultimate rounds respectively. Having secured the desired berth, they held their shape to see off Iran in the penalties after a goalless stalemate to clinch the top honours for the very first time in the 2016 AFC U-16 Championships.

Mexicans are the perennial favourites especially in this age-group competition and they extracted a sweet revenge on their way to lift 2017 CONCACAF U-17 Cup as well. They gobbled up most of their opponents like a Pac-Man and met their group-stage conquerors, USA who had won by 4-3. A similar result seemed to be the outcome when the ‘El Tri’ ironed-out the one-goal deficit in stoppage-time. They came out on top in a nail-biting shoot-out to scalp their seventh CONCACAF U-17 title.

England went into 2017 UEFA U-17 European Championship final with an all-win credential in both the qualifying and elite round and put their name first on the score sheet. But after Spain equalized, it went downhill for ‘The Young Lions’, as they lost 1-4 in the shoot-outs.

Chile excelled through the group stages before submitting to a defeat to Paraguay in the final six-team round. The ‘La Rojitas’ again picked up steam and was set to lift the crown, that too as the host team. But sadly their defence came unhinged when it most mattered and let in one less than a dozen goals.