Abu Dhabi: Reigning champions Mexico suffered the worst possible start to their defence of the Fifa Under-17 World Cup when they were trounced 6-1 by Nigeria in their opening game here.
But the Mexicans recovered in style to beat Iraq 3-1 and Sweden 1-0 to finish second in Group F and win promotion to the round of 16, where they will face Italy at Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium here on Tuesday.
El Tri coach Raul Gutierrez praised his team for the character they showed in bouncing back from that early setback. “We had a bad start to our campaign but we kept on improving from match to match,” he said. “When we needed the points most, we won them. Our team is not short on determination.
“Italy are a strong team — we studied them and have some information about their team. This phase is a knockout stage and everyone will play to win the encounter. We have to apply what we learnt during our training sessions.”
While Mexico’s group stage games produced plenty of goals, Italy only scored three and conceded two as they finished second in Group B. They beat Ivory Coast and New Zealand 1-0, before going down 2-1 to Uruguay.
Mexico will depend on their hero striker Ulises Jaimes, who has scored two goals in the competition so far, one of which was the crucial winner against Sweden. The Italians, meanwhile, have a supersub in Luca Vido, who came off the bench to score the only goal in each of their first two matches.
