U-17 World Cup: Buoyant Iran eye another win, take on Costa Rica

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Margao, October 12: Their confidence sky-high after hammering Germany, Iran would look to end their league engagements unbeaten when they take on Costa Rica in a Group C clash of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup here on Friday (October 13).

Iran -- top of the points table in Group C -- have qualified for the knockout stage along with USA, Paraguay, Brazil, France and England, who are leading their respective groups with six points each. The Asian giant-killers thrashed Germany 4-0 in their previous match.

"It was a great performance by our boys against Germany. They played as a unit, controlled the proceedings and exploited the gaps in the German defence to score a fluent 4-0 win," said Iran coach Abbas Chamanian.

"It is their best performance so far and if they continue to perform in the same manner we have a great chance to reach the final," said Abbas Chamanian.

Abbas also complimented his defence, who never allowed the rival any space to operate in the danger zone. Knowing that the German defence is vulnerable under attack, the wily Iranian coach adopted an offensive approach and the move worked as the German defence fell apart under pressure conceding four goals.

"Now that we have won both our matches, we are looking to win against Costa Rica to finish our league engagement with all win," stated Chamanian.

"We should not get carried away with the victory against the Germans and instead focus on Costa Rica who always look dangerous in front of the goal with their skillful play," he added.

Costa Rica, who lost to Germany in their opening match, have one point after they drew against Guinea, and now need to win tomorrow (October 13) to make it to the knockout round. Costa Rica found the going tough against Guinea, who dominated throughout but were denied by keeper Richardo.

"It's a do or die battle for us now and our boys know it. We need to play to our potential against a side who are high on confident after two consecutive wins. "We have worked out a strategy to overcome the challenge and we are looking forward to win tomorrow," stated Costa Rica coach Breansse Camacho.

Squads:
Iran: Gholam Zadeh Gomari, Satavi, Jalali, Esmaeil Zadeh Shahkola, Nasiri, Shariati Khameneh, Hosseinzadeh Tazehgheshlagh, Sharifi, Sayyad Manesh Shiadeh, Ghobeishavi, Delfi, Ashayer, Janipour, Davaran, Kooshki, Namdari DEhghadi, Ghaderi, Karimi Lishter, Sardari Amidabadi, Khaghani and Khoda Moradi.

Costa Rica: Ricardo Montenegro, Andres Hernandez, Fernan Faerron, Karin Arce, Amferny Arias, Wabter Cortes, Morio Mora, Christian Munoz, Julen Cordero, Greivin Fonseca, Felipe Flores, Jose Alfaro, Brandon Calvo, Ronnier Bustomante, Josre Abarca, Andres Gomez, Yecxy Jarquin, Kevin Chamorro, Sebastian Castro, Alexander Roman and Daniel Chaon.

Match starts at 5:00pm IST.