FIFA U-17 World Cup: Iraq eye first win; Chile look to avoid elimination

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Kolkata, October 10: After holding two-time champions Mexico to a 1-1 draw, a buoyant Iraq will look to post a win when they take on a demoralised Chile in their second Group F match of the FIFA U-17 World Cup here on Wednesday (October 11).

Iraq secured their first ever point at the U-17 World Cup with a spirited draw against heavyweights Mexico and they would look to continue the momentum against Chile, who suffered a massive 0-4 defeat against England in their opening game.

Full of pace and seemingly endless stamina, Mohammed Dawood spearheaded the Iraqi counter-attacking game plan to perfection, and found himself in front of the goal post on more than one occasion.

Dawood gave the Asian champions a surprise lead in the 16th minute, before Mexico's Roberto De La Rosa scored the equaliser in the 61st minute.

Dawood's dominance tomorrow can prove instrumental in deciding whether Iraq would progress from Group F to the Round of 16 in their second Under-17 World Cup appearance. However, Iraq's coach Qahtan Jathir is in no mood to look too far ahead and said their focus is solely on Chileans at the moment.

"Chile will not be easy. They have good players and are strong physically. They have good tactics as well. So, we will give our best against them," he said.

Chile would have to get their act together after a humiliating defeat in the previous game or face ouster. It would be important for the Chileans to stop the Dawood's incisive ploys tomorrow but their ace goalkeeper Julio Borquez will be missed as he was red-carded against England.

"He (Julio Borquez) is a really important player for us. We have good goalkeepers, so we will take a call as to who will take his place," Chile coach Hernan Caputto said.

In the absence of Borquez, who was adjudged Best Goalkeeper in the South American U-17 championship, Chile will have to pick between Rodrigo Cancino and Hugo Araya.

Squads:

Chile: Rodrigo Cancino, Hugo Araya; Gaston Zuniga, Matias Silva, Lucas Alarcon, Sebastian Valencia, Nicolas Aravena, Yerco Oyanedel; Maximiliano Guerrero, Mauricio Morales, Martin Lara, Oliver Rojas, Branco Provoste; Diego Valencia, Pedro Campos, William Gama, Ignacio Contreras, Ignacio Mesias, Jairo Vasquez, Antonio Diaz.

Iraq: Ali Ibadi, Mustafa Zuhair, Abdulazeez Ammar; Ali Raad, Muntadher Abdulsada, Abdulabbas Ayad, Ammar Mohammed, Maytham Jabbar, Muntadher Mohammed, Mohammed Al-Baqer; Habeeb Mohammed, Saif Khalid, Mohammed Ridha, Abbas Ali, Bassam Shakir, Mohammed Ali, Moamel Karim, Ahmed Sartip; Mohammed Dawood, Ali Kareem, Alaa Adnaan.

Match starts at 8 PM IST and will be aired across Sony Ten network.